Barnið sá skrýtna skepnu.

They are:

• barnið → barn = child
• sá → sjá = to see
• skrýtna → skrýtinn = strange / weird
• skepnu → skepna = creature

This is useful because Icelandic words change form a lot, so the form you see in a sentence is often not the form you look up in a dictionary.

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• barn = child
• barnið = the child

So the ending -ið is the definite article here.

Yes. Barn is a neuter noun in Icelandic.

That is a matter of grammatical gender, not biological sex. A noun can refer to a person and still be grammatically neuter, masculine, or feminine. So in Icelandic, you have to learn the gender of the noun as part of the word.

Sá is the past tense of sjá (to see), here meaning saw.

In this sentence it is the 3rd person singular past form:

• sjá = to see
• sá = saw

It is an irregular verb, so you cannot predict sá just by adding a regular ending to sjá.

Because Icelandic adjectives change to match the noun they describe.

Here, skrýtna agrees with skepnu, which is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So skrýtinn changes form and becomes skrýtna.

This is one of the most important things to get used to in Icelandic: adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Because it is the direct object of the sentence, so it appears in the accusative case.

The basic form is:

• skepna = creature

But in the accusative singular it becomes:

• skepnu

So skrýtna skepnu means a strange creature as the object of saw.

Because Icelandic has no indefinite article. English uses a/an, but Icelandic usually does not.

So:

• skepna can mean a creature
• skrýtna skepnu can mean a strange creature

If the noun were definite, Icelandic would usually show that on the noun itself:

• skepnan = the creature

And in this sentence, the strange creature would normally be:

• skrýtnu skepnuna

Because this sentence has an indefinite object: a strange creature, not the strange creature.

• skrýtna skepnu = a strange creature
• skrýtnu skepnuna = the strange creature

So the sentence is using the indefinite version of the noun phrase.

There are two main clues:

1. Word order
   The normal order here is subject + verb + object:

   • Barnið = subject
   • sá = verb
   • skrýtna skepnu = object

2. Case marking
   Skepnu is clearly an accusative form, which fits its role as the direct object.

A small extra point: barnið could look the same in nominative and accusative, but the rest of the sentence makes its role clear.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

BAR-nith sow SKREET-na SKEP-nu

A few notes:

• ð in barnið is like th in this
• á in sá is not plain English a; it is a different vowel, roughly like ow
• ý in skrýtna sounds like a long ee
• stress in Icelandic usually falls on the first syllable

So the rhythm is:

BARnið SÁ SKRÝTna SKEPnu