Skoðunarmaðurinn kemur.

Because Icelandic makes very heavy use of compound nouns.

Here, skoðunarmaðurinn can be broken down like this:

• skoðun = inspection, examination, review
• maður = man, person, official, agent
• -inn = the (attached to the noun)

So the whole word is basically:

• skoðun + maður + inn
• inspection-person-the

That is completely normal in Icelandic. Instead of using several separate words, Icelandic often builds one compound noun.

-inn is the definite article, so it means the.

Icelandic usually puts the onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word in front of it.

So:

• skoðunarmaður = an inspector / inspector
• skoðunarmaðurinn = the inspector

The exact form of the article changes depending on gender, number, and case, so -inn is just one of several possible definite endings.

Because in Icelandic, the definite article is usually enclitic, meaning it is attached to the end of the noun.

Compare:

• English: the inspector
• Icelandic: skoðunarmaðurinn

So instead of a separate article before the noun, Icelandic normally uses a noun + article ending.

There are cases where Icelandic can use a separate article form, especially with adjectives or in more formal structures, but in a simple sentence like this, attaching it to the noun is the normal pattern.

It is masculine singular nominative.

You can tell partly because the base noun is skoðunarmaður, and maður is a masculine noun. In Icelandic compounds, the last part usually determines the grammatical gender of the whole word.

So:

• maður is masculine
• therefore skoðunarmaður is masculine
• and skoðunarmaðurinn is the definite nominative singular form of that masculine noun

Not necessarily in a strict real-world sense.

In compounds, maður often works like person, agent, official, or worker. So skoðunarmaður is best understood as a job or role word, not simply as a man who inspects.

That said, grammatically it is still a masculine noun, because Icelandic noun gender is a grammatical category. Depending on context and style, modern Icelandic may also use other more explicitly gender-neutral job titles, but skoðunarmaður is a standard word form.

Kemur is the present tense of the verb koma (to come).

In this sentence, it is 3rd person singular, agreeing with skoðunarmaðurinn as the subject.

Useful forms:

• að koma = to come
• ég kem = I come / I am coming
• þú kemur = you come / you are coming
• hann/hún/það kemur = he/she/it comes / is coming

So Skoðunarmaðurinn kemur means that the inspector comes / is coming, depending on context.

Because Icelandic often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• comes
• is coming

The exact English translation depends on context.

So kemur can describe:

• a general present action
• something happening now
• sometimes even a near-future event

In a short sentence without more context, comes and is coming are both reasonable English equivalents.

This is the normal order for a simple statement:

• subject + verb

So:

• Skoðunarmaðurinn = the subject
• kemur = the verb

Icelandic often looks similar to English in basic statements like this.

However, Icelandic is also a verb-second language in main clauses. That means if you move another element to the front, the verb still usually stays in second position. For example:

• Á morgun kemur skoðunarmaðurinn.
• Tomorrow, the inspector comes / is coming.

So the simple sentence uses the most straightforward statement order.

It is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence.

In Icelandic, subjects of ordinary active sentences are usually nominative.

Here is the idea:

• skoðunarmaðurinn = the inspector → subject → nominative
• kemur = comes / is coming

If the noun had a different role in the sentence, its form could change. For example, the same noun in another case would not necessarily look the same, because Icelandic nouns inflect for case.

You would usually say:

• Skoðunarmaður kemur.

Icelandic has no true indefinite article equivalent to English a/an.

So:

• skoðunarmaður can mean an inspector or just inspector
• skoðunarmaðurinn means the inspector

Context tells you whether the indefinite noun should be understood as a, an, or just a bare noun.

A yes/no question would normally be:

• Kemur skoðunarmaðurinn?

So the verb comes first:

• statement: Skoðunarmaðurinn kemur.
• question: Kemur skoðunarmaðurinn?

That is a very common Icelandic pattern, and it is similar to older or more formal English patterns like Comes the inspector?, though modern English usually uses Does the inspector come? or Is the inspector coming?

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• SKOH-thu-nar-MA-thur-in KYEH-mur or KEM-ur, depending on how detailed you want the approximation

A few helpful points:

• ð is like the th in this
• r is usually tapped or trilled, not the typical English r
• u and ö/u-like Icelandic vowels do not match English perfectly
• the stress usually falls on the first syllable of each word

So an approximate breakdown is:

• Skoðunarmaðurinn → SKOH-thu-nar-MA-thur-in
• kemur → KYEH-mur / KEM-ur

Any English-style pronunciation guide is only approximate, but that should help you start reading it aloud.