Fyrirtækið byggði hótel.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

• fyrirtæki = company
• fyrirtækið = the company

So the ending on fyrirtækið is what makes it definite.

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

So:

• hótel can mean a hotel
• in some contexts it could also mean hotel more generally

In this sentence, the meaning is a hotel, even though there is no separate word for a.

byggði is the past tense of the verb byggja (to build).

So:

• byggja = to build
• byggði = built

That is why the sentence describes something completed in the past.

This is the basic subject–verb–object order, which is very common in Icelandic, just as in English.

• Fyrirtækið = the subject
• byggði = the verb
• hótel = the object

So the structure is:

• The company
  • built
    • a hotel

Icelandic word order can vary more than English in some situations, but this sentence uses the most straightforward order.

Fyrirtækið is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing doing the action.

The company is the one that built something, so nominative is the expected case here.

Hótel is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case.

The verb byggja normally takes an accusative object, so the thing being built appears in the accusative.

Because many Icelandic neuter nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular. Also, loanwords like hótel often have very little visible change across cases.

So even though hótel is accusative here, its form stays hótel.

Both fyrirtæki and hótel are neuter nouns.

This matters because gender affects things like:

• the form of the definite article
• adjective endings
• some pronouns and agreement patterns

In this sentence, one clue is the definite form fyrirtækið, which is a neuter definite noun.

Yes, in normal usage byggja takes the accusative for the thing that is built.

For example:

• byggja hús = build a house
• byggja brú = build a bridge
• byggja hótel = build a hotel

So the object after byggja is typically accusative.

A rough learner-friendly guide would be:

• Fyrirtækið ≈ FIR-ir-tye-kith
• byggði ≈ BIG-thi or BÜG-thi
• hótel ≈ HO-tel

A few useful notes:

• þ sounds like th in thing
• ð sounds like th in this
• æ sounds roughly like eye or aye
• y in Icelandic does not sound like English y; it is more like an i-type vowel

Exact pronunciation depends on accent and speed, but those approximations are a decent starting point.

Not by itself in the form given.

Because hótel has no definite article, it is understood as a hotel, not the hotel.

If you wanted the hotel, you would normally use the definite form:

• hótelið = the hotel

So:

• Fyrirtækið byggði hótel. = The company built a hotel.
• Fyrirtækið byggði hótelið. = The company built the hotel.

Normally, no. Icelandic usually does state the subject, especially in a simple sentence like this one.

So Fyrirtækið byggði hótel naturally includes fyrirtækið as the subject. Leaving it out would usually not work the way it might in some other languages.

The dictionary form is fyrirtæki.

In Icelandic dictionaries, nouns are usually listed in the indefinite nominative singular, so you would look up:

• fyrirtæki = company

Then you learn the definite form from that:

• fyrirtækið = the company