Level A1
Búinn means “done” or “finished”. You use the word to when explaining what you have been doing, or more specifically when explaining what you’ve done recently and what you’ve already done.
Examples:
  • Ert þú búinn að lesa þessa bók? – This literally means “Are you done reading this book?”, but is used in the sense “Have you already read this book?”.
  • Ég er búinn að vinna í allan dag. – Meaning literally “I am done working all day”, but is used in the sense “I have worked all day”.
Búinn is an extremely common word and it’s easy to use since you don’t need to remember any verb conjugations. Many students find it to be a bit strange at first, but they learn it very rapidly. Learning búinn allows you to quickly become expressive since you can more easily talk about your day.
The word búinn changes depending on gender like so:
búinnbúinbúið
Although the masculine “búinn” and feminine “búin” are written differently, they are pronounced exactly the same.

Exercises

See also