Then After a Clause (þá)

Level 5

Ef þú kemur, þá förum við saman. (If you come, we'll go together.) þá takes the first place, so the verb follows it at once.

How It Works

Two correct ways.

  • Ef þú kemur förum við saman.
  • Ef þú kemur þá förum við saman.

In the first, the whole ef-clause is the first element, so the verb förum comes right after it. In the second, þá repeats that first element, and the verb follows þá. Either way the subject við comes after the verb.

Where you meet it. þá is very common in speech, and especially after long clauses:

  • After ef: Ef það rignir á morgun þá verðum við bara inni.
  • After þegar: Þegar ég kom heim þá var enginn þar.
  • After fyrst (since): Fyrst þú ert komin þá getum við byrjað.
  • After þótt: Þótt það sé kalt þá förum við í sund.

Comma. The official spelling rules put no comma where the two clauses meet: Ef þú kemur þá förum við saman. Many people still write a comma before þá, so you will see both.

Other meanings of þá. On its own, þá also means "at that time": Þá var ég ungur (Back then I was young). For "then" in a sequence of events, svo or síðan is more common: Fyrst borðuðum við, svo fórum við í bíó.

Examples (5)

  1. Ef þú kemur þá förum við saman.

    If you come, we'll go together.

    Word by Word: If you come, then go we together.

  2. Þegar ég kom heim þá var enginn þar.

    When I came home, nobody was there.

    Word by Word: When I came home, then was nobody there.

  3. Ef það rignir á morgun þá verðum við bara inni.

    If it rains tomorrow, we'll just stay inside.

    Word by Word: If it rains on morning, then will-be we just inside.

  4. Fyrst þú ert komin þá getum við byrjað.

    Since you're here, we can start.

    Word by Word: Since you are come, then can we begin.

    komin is feminine, so the speaker is talking to a woman.

  5. Þótt það sé kalt þá förum við í sund.

    Even though it's cold, we're going swimming.

    Word by Word: Though it be cold, then go we in swimming.

    þótt takes the subjunctive: sé.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the subject before the verb after þá.

    Ef þú kemur þá við förum saman.
    Ef þú kemur þá förum við saman.

    þá fills the first place in the main clause, so the verb comes next and the subject after it.

  • Putting the subject first after a clause without þá.

    Þegar ég kom heim enginn var þar.
    Þegar ég kom heim var enginn þar.

    Without þá, the þegar-clause itself is the first element, so the verb still comes next. Þegar ég kom heim þá var enginn þar is also correct.

How It Connects

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

Then After a Clause (þá)Level 5

Learn This First

Resumptive þá builds on þegar and ef.

Words in This Pattern

þáefþegar