var búinn að

Had Already Done (Var Búinn Að)

Level 3

var búinn að + infinitive means had already done: Hún var búin að borða þegar ég kom (She had already eaten when I arrived).

How It Works

How it is built. Use the past of vera (var, varst, var, vorum, voruð, voru), then búinn, then að and the infinitive:

  • Ég var búinn að borða. (I had already eaten. Said by a man.)
  • Ég var búin að borða. (The same, said by a woman.)
  • Við vorum búin að pakka. (We had already packed.)

búinn agrees with the subject. It behaves like an adjective (adjective agreement): masculine búinn, feminine búin, neuter búið; plural búnir, búnar, búin. A mixed group, or við covering men and women, takes the neuter plural búin.

Putting two past events in order. It often pairs with a þegar-clause: the búinn-action was already over when the other event happened. Við vorum búin að pakka þegar leigubíllinn kom. (We had already packed when the taxi came.)

var búinn að or hafði + supine? Both put one past event before another. hafði + supine is the neutral past perfect and is common in writing: Hún hafði borðað áður en ég kom. var búinn að is very common in everyday speech and stresses that the action was complete. For experiences with aldrei (never), hafði is the usual choice: Ég hafði aldrei séð norðurljós.

Negatives and questions. ekki comes after var: Ég var ekki búinn að borða (I hadn't eaten yet). A question starts with var: Varstu búin að heyra fréttirnar? (Had you already heard the news?)

With no named doer. Neuter það var búið að says something had already been done by someone: Það var búið að loka búðinni (The shop had already been closed). See það er verið að/það er búið að.

Examples (6)

  1. Hún var búin að borða þegar ég kom.

    She had already eaten when I arrived.

    Word by Word: She was finished to eat when I came.

    búin is feminine because the subject is hún.

  2. Við vorum búin að pakka þegar leigubíllinn kom.

    We had already packed when the taxi came.

    Word by Word: We were finished to pack when the taxi came.

  3. Ég var búinn að gleyma því.

    I had forgotten about it.

    Word by Word: I was finished to forget it.

    Said by a man; a woman says Ég var búin að gleyma því.

  4. Varstu búin að heyra fréttirnar?

    Had you already heard the news?

    Word by Word: Were-you finished to hear the news?

    Asked of a woman; to a man, say Varstu búinn.

  5. Strákarnir voru ekki búnir að klára heimavinnuna.

    The boys hadn't finished their homework yet.

    Word by Word: The boys were not finished to finish the homework.

  6. Það var búið að loka búðinni.

    The shop had already been closed.

    Word by Word: It was finished to close the shop.

Common Mistakes

  • Not making búinn agree with the subject.

    Hún var búinn að borða.
    Hún var búin að borða.

    búinn changes like an adjective. With a feminine subject such as hún, use búin.

  • Leaving out að before the infinitive.

    Við vorum búin pakka.
    Við vorum búin að pakka.

    búinn is always followed by að and then the infinitive.

  • Using the supine instead of the infinitive.

    Ég var búinn að borðað.
    Ég var búinn að borða.

    The supine (borðað) belongs after hafði. After búinn að, use the infinitive (borða).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

var búinn aðLevel 3Had Already Done (Var Búinn Að)

Learn This First

var búinn að builds on vera búinn að and var.

Words in This Pattern

varvorumverabúinnað