Þau fjarlægja snjó af veginum.

Icelandic has three different words for they in the plural:

• þeir = masculine plural
• þær = feminine plural
• þau = neuter plural

Þau is used:

• for a mixed-gender group
• for children
• for a group whose grammatical gender is neuter
• sometimes when the gender is not being emphasized

So þau fjarlægja means they remove, with þau agreeing with whatever group is being talked about.

It can definitely refer to people.

For example, þau is very commonly used for:

• a group of boys and girls
• children
• a mixed group of adults
• a group represented by a neuter plural noun

So even though þau is grammatically neuter, it does not mean the subject has to be inanimate.

Here fjarlægja is the present tense, third-person plural form of the verb að fjarlægja.

So:

• að fjarlægja = to remove
• þau fjarlægja = they remove / they are removing

A useful thing to notice is that in Icelandic, the infinitive and a finite verb form can sometimes look the same. Here, it is clearly a finite verb because it follows the subject þau and there is no að before it.

Because snjó is the accusative form, and snjór is the nominative form.

• snjór = snow, as a subject
• snjó = snow, as a direct object

In this sentence, snow is what is being removed, so it is the direct object of fjarlægja, and that is why Icelandic uses the accusative:

• Þau fjarlægja snjó ...

This is a very common thing in Icelandic: nouns change form depending on their role in the sentence.

Because the preposition af takes the dative case.

The noun is vegur = road. In the dative singular, it becomes vegi, and with the definite article attached it becomes veginum.

So:

• vegur = road
• veginum = the road, in the dative

And:

• af veginum = off/from the road

This is one of the key things to learn in Icelandic: many prepositions require a specific case, and af normally goes with the dative.

Because Icelandic usually puts the as an ending on the noun, instead of using a separate word like English does.

With vegur:

• vegur = road
• vegurinn = the road
• vegi = road, dative
• veginum = the road, dative

So veginum is basically vegi + num, where the ending includes the definite article.

This attached article is very normal in Icelandic and is one of the first big differences English speakers notice.

No. Here af means off or from, not English of.

In this sentence, the idea is that the snow is being removed from the road or off the road.

So:

• af veginum = from/off the road

Even though af may look a little like English of, its meaning here is different.

Because snjó is being used as a mass noun, like snow in English.

English often says:

• remove snow from the road

not necessarily:

• remove the snow from the road

Icelandic works similarly here. Snjó without the article means snow in a general or non-specific sense.

If you said snjóinn, that would sound more like the snow, meaning a specific snow layer or snow that has already been identified.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The simple present in Icelandic can cover:

• a general/habitual meaning: they remove snow
• a current meaning: they are removing snow

If you want to stress that the action is happening right now, Icelandic often uses:

• eru að fjarlægja

So:

• Þau fjarlægja snjó af veginum = they remove snow / they are removing snow
• Þau eru að fjarlægja snjó af veginum = they are in the process of removing snow

A learner would usually look these up under these forms:

• þau → pronoun paradigm for þeir / þær / þau
• fjarlægja → að fjarlægja
• snjó → snjór
• af → af
• veginum → vegur

This is especially important because Icelandic words often appear in forms that are not the dictionary form. In this sentence, snjó and veginum are the two most obvious examples.

This is the normal, neutral word order:

• subject: Þau
• verb: fjarlægja
• object: snjó
• prepositional phrase: af veginum

So it follows a very straightforward pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object + Prepositional phrase

Icelandic word order can be more flexible than English, but this sentence is a very standard, natural way to say it.