ekki enn / ekki lengur

Not Yet and No Longer

Level 3

Hann er ekki kominn enn (He hasn’t arrived yet). Ég bý ekki lengur hér (I don’t live here anymore).

How It Works

enn and ennþá: still and not yet. enn and ennþá mean the same thing, and both are common in speech.

  • Without ekki, they mean still: Er búðin enn opin? (Is the shop still open?)
  • With ekki, they mean not yet: Ég er ekki búinn enn (I’m not finished yet).
  • As a short answer: Ekki ennþá (Not yet).

enn can come right after ekki or at the end: Hann er ekki enn kominn and Hann er ekki kominn enn are both fine. They often go with vera kominn and vera búinn að. In a question about yet, Icelandic often needs no extra word: Er hann kominn? (Has he arrived yet?)

lengur: any longer. lengur is the comparative of lengi (a long time). With ekki it means not anymore, for something that was true before but has stopped:

  • Ég bý ekki lengur hér. (I don’t live here anymore.)
  • Hún reykir ekki lengur. (She doesn’t smoke anymore.)

lengur can also come at the end: Ég bý ekki hér lengur. Without ekki, it just means longer: Getum við verið aðeins lengur? (Can we stay a little longer?)

Word order. Like ekki, these words come after the verb: Hún reykir ekki lengur. A short pronoun object such as hann or það goes in front of ekki: Ég sé hann ekki lengur (I don’t see him anymore) (see pronoun before ekki).

strax and bráðum. strax means right away: Komdu strax! (Come right away!) bráðum means soon: Bráðum koma jólin (Christmas is coming soon).

One more meaning. Before a comparative, enn means even: enn betra (even better).

Examples (6)

  1. Hann er ekki kominn enn.

    He hasn’t arrived yet.

    Word by Word: He is not come yet.

  2. Ég bý ekki lengur hér.

    I don’t live here anymore.

    Word by Word: I live not longer here.

  3. Ertu búinn? – Nei, ekki ennþá.

    Are you finished? – No, not yet.

  4. Er búðin enn opin?

    Is the shop still open?

    Without ekki, enn means still.

  5. Komdu strax!

    Come right away!

  6. Bráðum koma jólin.

    Christmas is coming soon.

    Word by Word: Soon come the Christmas.

    bráðum takes the first place, so the verb koma comes next.

Common Mistakes

  • Using ekki enn (not yet) when you mean that something has stopped.

    Ég vinn ekki enn í bankanum.
    Ég vinn ekki lengur í bankanum.

    The first sentence is grammatical, but it means I don’t work at the bank yet, as if you are about to start. For something that has stopped, use ekki lengur.

  • Putting a short pronoun object after ekki.

    Ég sé ekki hann lengur.
    Ég sé hann ekki lengur.

    An unstressed pronoun such as hann comes before ekki. It comes after ekki only when you stress it to contrast it with someone else.

How It Connects

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

ekki enn / ekki lengurLevel 3Not Yet and No Longer

Learn This First

Not yet and no longer build on frequency words and the perfect.

Words in This Pattern

ekkiennennþáekki lengurlengurstraxbráðum