ef

If (Ef)

Level 2

ef means if: Ef það rignir förum við ekki út (If it rains, we won't go out).

How It Works

Real conditions. ef introduces something that may well happen. Use the ordinary indicative tenses, just as in English:

  • Komdu ef þú getur. (Come if you can.)
  • Ég kem á morgun ef ég hef tíma. (I'll come tomorrow if I have time.)

For the future, Icelandic usually keeps the present tense in the ef-clause, as English does: Ef það rignir á morgun... (If it rains tomorrow...). See the present for the future.

Word order. When the ef-clause comes first, it fills the first place in the sentence, so the main clause starts with its verb (the verb comes second):

  • Ef það rignir förum við ekki út.
  • Ef þú ert svangur er matur í ísskápnum.

Inside the ef-clause the order is subject + verb, and ekki follows the verb: ef þú kemst ekki. In speech the main clause is often opened with þá: Ef þú kemur, þá förum við saman (resumptive þá).

ef is not "whether". English can say I don't know if he's coming, but Icelandic uses hvort for that: Ég veit ekki hvort hann kemur. Keep ef for conditions.

Unreal conditions. For things that are imagined or unlikely (If I were you...), ef takes the past subjunctive: Ef ég væri þú... That comes later, in unreal conditions.

Examples (6)

  1. Ef það rignir förum við ekki út.

    If it rains, we won't go out.

    Word by Word: If it rains go we not out.

    The main clause starts with its verb förum because the ef-clause came first.

  2. Komdu ef þú getur.

    Come if you can.

  3. Ég kem á morgun ef ég hef tíma.

    I'll come tomorrow if I have time.

    Word by Word: I come tomorrow if I have time.

  4. Ef þú ert svangur er matur í ísskápnum.

    If you're hungry, there's food in the fridge.

    Word by Word: If you are hungry is food in the fridge.

  5. Ef þú vilt getum við hist í kvöld.

    If you want, we can meet tonight.

    Word by Word: If you want can we met-each-other tonight.

    hist is the supine of hittast (to meet each other), used after geta.

  6. Láttu mig vita ef þú kemst ekki.

    Let me know if you can't make it.

    Word by Word: Let me know if you get-there not.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the subject before the verb after a fronted ef-clause.

    Ef það rignir við förum ekki út.
    Ef það rignir förum við ekki út.

    The ef-clause fills the first place, so the verb förum must come right after it, before við.

  • Using ef for "whether" after a verb like vita.

    Ég veit ekki ef hann kemur.
    Ég veit ekki hvort hann kemur.

    English "if" can mean "whether", but Icelandic ef only means a condition. Use hvort for an indirect yes/no question.

How It Connects

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efLevel 2If (Ef)

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ef builds on subordinate word order.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

efhvort