Það var heiður að hjálpa.

Here það means it.

In this sentence, það is a kind of dummy subject, just like English it in It was an honor to help. It does not refer to a specific thing. Icelandic often uses það this way.

So:

• það = it
• var = was
• heiður = honor
• að hjálpa = to help

Var is the past tense of vera (to be).

So:

• er = is
• var = was

That means Það var heiður að hjálpa is in the past: It was an honor to help.

Icelandic does not use an indefinite article like English a/an.

So English an honor is often just:

• heiður

with no extra word.

That is completely normal in Icelandic. The noun by itself can mean honor or an honor, depending on context.

Heiður is in the nominative singular here.

After the verb vera (to be), Icelandic often uses a predicate noun in the nominative. In other words, the sentence is structurally like:

• It was honor
• Það var heiður

So heiður stays in its basic dictionary form here.

Að hjálpa means to help.

Here að is the infinitive marker, like English to before a verb:

• að hjálpa = to help
• að fara = to go
• að lesa = to read

So the last part of the sentence, að hjálpa, explains what was an honor.

Because it is in the infinitive form.

The infinitive is the basic verb form, like English help in to help. After að, Icelandic usually uses the infinitive:

• að hjálpa = to help

So hjálpa is not past tense or present tense here. The past meaning is already carried by var.

Yes. The verb hjálpa usually takes the dative case.

For example:

• að hjálpa mér = to help me
• að hjálpa honum = to help him
• að hjálpa henni = to help her

In your sentence, there is no person mentioned, so you just see að hjálpa by itself. But if you add an object, it would normally be in the dative.

The word order is very natural and common.

The structure is:

• Það = dummy subject
• var = verb
• heiður = complement
• að hjálpa = infinitive phrase

So literally:

• It was honor to help

This is very similar to English It was an honor to help.

Grammatically, Icelandic can sometimes place the infinitive phrase first, but Það var heiður að hjálpa is much more natural for this meaning.

Starting with það works like English It was an honor to help, which sounds smoother than To help was an honor.

So for a learner, Það var heiður að hjálpa is the best pattern to remember.

A rough guide is:

• þ sounds like th in thing
• á is a long ow/au-like vowel
• ð is like th in this, but at the end of words it can be very soft

So það is approximately thowth or thauth, though the final ð is often light.

The most important thing is not to pronounce þ like t.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• hei sounds somewhat like hay
• ð is a soft th sound, like in this
• ur at the end has an Icelandic sound that does not match English exactly

So heiður is roughly HAY-thur, but with a softer, more Icelandic ending.

If you are just starting, saying something close to HAY-thur will help you remember it.

Yes. Það var heiður að hjálpa sounds polite, warm, and fairly natural.

It is the kind of thing someone might say after assisting another person, especially in a respectful or gracious way. In English, it is close to:

• It was an honor to help
• It was my honor to help

So it can sound a bit more elevated than a simple I was happy to help, but it is still perfectly understandable and natural.