Tjónþolinn sendir ljósmyndina þrátt fyrir að lekaleitin taki lengi.

In Icelandic, the is very often attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

In this sentence, you can see that in:

• Tjónþolinn = the injured party / claimant
• ljósmyndina = the photograph
• lekaleitin = the leak investigation / leak search

So instead of a separate article like English the, Icelandic usually uses a suffixed definite article.

Because Icelandic noun endings change for:

• gender
• number
• case

So the definite article does not have just one shape.

In this sentence:

• Tjónþolinn is masculine singular nominative
• ljósmyndina is feminine singular accusative
• lekaleitin is feminine singular nominative

That is why the endings are different. English learners often expect one single form for the, but Icelandic marks much more grammatical information in the noun ending.

Because it is the direct object of sendir.

The verb senda normally takes an object in the accusative, so:

• ljósmynd = photograph
• ljósmyndina = the photograph, accusative singular definite

So the ending is not random: it shows that this is the thing being sent.

It means something like despite the fact that, even though, or although.

It introduces a concessive clause, meaning a clause that says something happens in spite of another situation.

So the structure is:

• main clause: Tjónþolinn sendir ljósmyndina
• concessive clause: þrátt fyrir að lekaleitin taki lengi

English often uses even though or although for this kind of idea.

Because here þrátt fyrir is followed by a full clause, not just a noun phrase.

Compare:

• þrátt fyrir lekaleitina = despite the leak investigation
• þrátt fyrir að lekaleitin taki lengi = despite the fact that the leak investigation takes a long time

So:

• þrátt fyrir + noun phrase
• þrátt fyrir að + finite clause

That að helps introduce the clause.

Because taki is the present subjunctive of taka.

After þrátt fyrir að, Icelandic often uses the subjunctive in formal or standard language, especially in concessive clauses like this one.

So:

• tekur = present indicative
• taki = present subjunctive

A learner does not need to think of this as a completely different meaning every time. In many sentences like this, the subjunctive is mainly a grammatical feature triggered by the clause type.

Yes. It is a compound noun, which is very common in Icelandic.

It is built from:

• leki = leak
• leit = search, investigation, detection
• -in = the definite article ending

So lekaleitin literally means something like the leak-search or the leak investigation/detection.

Icelandic forms many everyday nouns this way, so learning to spot compounds is very useful.

Because this is a subordinate clause introduced by að.

In Icelandic main clauses, the language often follows verb-second word order. But in subordinate clauses, the order is usually more straightforward:

• conjunction
• subject
• verb
• other elements

So:

• að
• lekaleitin
• taki
• lengi

That is normal subordinate-clause word order.

Lengi is an adverb, meaning for a long time or a long time.

It modifies the verb taki:

• taki lengi = takes a long time

It is not an adjective because it is not describing a noun.
An adjective would describe something like a long investigation, but here the idea is that the action/process lasts a long time.

Sendir is:

• present tense
• 3rd person singular

It agrees with the singular subject Tjónþolinn.

So grammatically it means:

• he sends
• she sends
• the claimant sends
• depending on context, sometimes simply sends

As in many languages, the present tense can sometimes be used for a current action, a habitual action, or even a near-future action, depending on context.

It takes the accusative.

For example, the pattern is:

• þrátt fyrir + accusative noun phrase

So if you replace the whole clause with a noun phrase, you would expect accusative after þrátt fyrir.

That is useful to remember because in this sentence you do not directly see the case government of þrátt fyrir, since it is followed by að plus a clause instead.