þegar

What þegar does. þegar joins two events in time. It can mean when, whenever or at the time that:

• Hringdu í mig þegar þú kemur heim. (Call me when you get home.)
• Ég hlusta á tónlist þegar ég elda. (I listen to music when I cook.)

Word order when þegar comes first. Icelandic keeps the verb in second place (the verb comes second). A whole þegar-clause counts as the first place, so the main clause starts straight away with its verb, and the subject follows:

• Þegar ég var lítill bjó ég á Ísafirði. (When I was little, I lived in Ísafjörður.)
• Þegar það er gott veður förum við í sund. (When the weather is good, we go swimming.)

Inside the þegar-clause itself, the order is the normal subject + verb: þegar ég kem. Words like ekki come after the verb there too: þegar hann kemur ekki (see word order in subordinate clauses). In speech you may hear þá repeating the start of the main clause: Þegar ég kom heim, þá var enginn þar (resumptive þá).

þegar or hvenær? English uses when for both, but Icelandic splits them. Use hvenær to ask a question, including an indirect one: Hvenær kemurðu?, Veistu hvenær hún kemur? Use þegar in a statement that ties two events together.

Another meaning. On its own as an adverb, þegar can also mean already: Hann er þegar farinn (He has already left). In everyday speech, a finished action is often said with vera búinn að, which English often translates with already: Ég er búinn að borða (I've already eaten).