Fylgiskjalið er í tölvupóstinum.

Because fylgiskjal is the noun attachment, and -ið is the suffixed definite article for a neuter singular noun here.

So:

• fylgiskjal = an attachment
• fylgiskjalið = the attachment

Icelandic usually adds the to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word the way English does.

Also, fylgiskjal is a neuter noun, which is why the definite ending is -ið in this form.

Because Icelandic very often expresses the as an ending attached to the noun.

In this sentence:

• fylgiskjalið = the attachment
• tölvupóstinum = in the email

So the idea of the is built into both nouns. This is one of the biggest differences from English.

Tölvupóstur means email, and it is a compound word:

• tölva = computer
• póstur = mail/post

So it literally means something like computer-mail.

The first part appears as tölvu- because Icelandic compounds often use a form related to the genitive of the first noun. So you should think of tölvupóstur as a fixed compound meaning email.

Er means is. It is the present tense of the verb að vera = to be.

So:

• Fylgiskjalið er ... = The attachment is ...

This is a very common verb, and you will see er constantly in Icelandic.

Because after the preposition í here, the noun must be in the dative, and it is also definite.

Breakdown:

• tölvupóstur = email / an email
• tölvupóstinum = the email in the dative singular

So the ending reflects two things at once:

1. the noun is definite
2. it is in the dative case

This is very normal in Icelandic: noun endings change depending on grammatical role.

The preposition í can take either:

• dative for location: in
• accusative for motion into something: into

In Fylgiskjalið er í tölvupóstinum, the attachment is already located there, so this is a location meaning. That is why Icelandic uses the dative: í tölvupóstinum.

A useful general contrast is:

• í húsinu = in the house
• í húsið = into the house

So here the idea is in the email, not into the email.

The basic word order here is very straightforward:

• Fylgiskjalið = subject
• er = verb
• í tölvupóstinum = prepositional phrase

So the sentence is:

Subject + Verb + Place

That is the most neutral order.

But Icelandic word order can be more flexible than English. For example, you could also say:

Í tölvupóstinum er fylgiskjalið.

That puts more emphasis on where it is. Both are grammatical, but the given sentence is the most plain and neutral.

A few helpful points:

• y in Icelandic is pronounced like i
• skj in fylgiskjal sounds roughly like sky
• ó is a long vowel, roughly like o in a stretched go
• ð is like the th in this
• í sounds like ee
• ö is a rounded vowel that English does not have exactly

Very rough approximations:

• fylgiskjalið ≈ FIL-gi-skya-lith
• tölvupóstinum ≈ TUHL-vu-poh-sti-num

These are only approximations, but they can help you get started.

No. Another very common word is viðhengi.

So in real life, Icelanders may use either word depending on context, software, or personal habit. But fylgiskjal is perfectly good Icelandic and very understandable.

So for a learner, it is useful to know:

• fylgiskjal = attachment
• viðhengi = attachment

In normal modern usage, it means the attachment is included with the email or in the email message. It is not talking about physical space in a literal way.

So even though í usually means in, here the natural sense is simply that the attachment is part of that email. This kind of wording is normal in Icelandic.