Hún svarar öðruvísi.

• Hún = the subject pronoun, she
• svarar = the verb, answers / is answering
• öðruvísi = an adverb meaning differently or in a different way

So the structure is very straightforward: subject + verb + adverb.

Svara is the infinitive, meaning to answer.

In Hún svarar öðruvísi, the verb is conjugated for:

• present tense
• 3rd person singular
• matching hún = she

So:

• að svara = to answer
• ég svara = I answer
• þú svarar = you answer
• hún/hann/það svarar = she/he/it answers

That -ar ending is very common for many Icelandic verbs in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present.

Here it is an adverb, because it describes how she answers.

It tells us the manner of the action:

• Hún svarar öðruvísi = She answers differently

If a word modifies a verb like this, it is doing an adverb’s job.

A useful way to think about it:

• adjective = describes a noun
• adverb = describes a verb, adjective, or whole clause

In this sentence, öðruvísi describes the verb svarar.

Usually, learners should treat öðruvísi as a fixed form.

Unlike many Icelandic adjectives, it normally does not get changed for gender, number, or case in ordinary usage. That makes it easier to use than many other descriptive words.

So you can learn it as one item:

• öðruvísi = differently / different

Historically, it does. The word comes from an older expression related to öðrum vísi, roughly in another way / by another manner.

Over time, it became a fixed adverbial word: öðruvísi.

So even if it looks like part of it may be in a case form, learners do not usually need to analyze it that way in modern Icelandic. It is best learned as a single vocabulary item.

A rough guide:

• ö is something like the vowel in French peur or German schön, not an English o
• ð is like the th in this
• ú is a long oo-type sound
• í is like ee in see

A rough English-style approximation might be something like UTH-ru-vee-see, but that is only approximate and not fully accurate.

Also note:

• ð is never pronounced like English d
• í is always a clear long vowel

Normally, no. Icelandic usually keeps the subject pronoun unless the subject is understood from context in a special construction.

So:

• Hún svarar öðruvísi is the normal full sentence.
• Dropping hún would usually sound incomplete on its own.

This is different from languages like Spanish or Italian, where subject pronouns are often omitted.

Yes, but Hún svarar öðruvísi is the most neutral everyday order.

Icelandic often follows a verb-second pattern, especially when something else is placed first for emphasis. For example, you could move öðruvísi to the front for emphasis:

• Öðruvísi svarar hún.

That sounds more marked or literary, something like:

• Differently, she answers
• or She answers differently with extra emphasis on differently

For basic learning, the original order is the best one to use first.

Not always. In this sentence, it is used without saying whom she answers or what she answers.

That is perfectly normal:

• Hún svarar öðruvísi. = She answers differently.

But svara can also take a person in the dative:

• Hún svarar mér. = She answers me.
• Hún svarar kennaranum. = She answers the teacher.

So a learner should remember that svara often goes with a dative indirect object, not a direct object like in English.

Because Icelandic simple present can often cover both:

• she answers
• she is answering

So Hún svarar may mean either, depending on context.

This is very common in Icelandic. The simple present is often broader than the English present tense system.

Yes. It sounds natural and idiomatic.

It could mean things like:

• her style of answering has changed
• she answers in a different manner from before
• she responds differently from other people

The exact nuance depends on context, but grammatically and stylistically it is completely normal Icelandic.