Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn skammtar lyfin.

A natural breakdown is:

• Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn = the nurse
• skammtar = dispenses, doles out, or administers in measured amounts
• lyfin = the medicines / the medication

A more literal look at hjúkrunarfræðingur is:

• hjúkrun = nursing, care
• fræðingur = specialist, expert, scholar

So hjúkrunarfræðingur is literally something like a nursing specialist, which is the standard Icelandic word for nurse.

In Icelandic, the definite article is very often attached to the noun as a suffix.

So instead of a separate word like English the nurse, Icelandic commonly says:

• hjúkrunarfræðingur = nurse
• hjúkrunarfræðingurinn = the nurse

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice. Icelandic can use a separate definite word in some situations, but in ordinary sentences like this, the attached article is the normal choice.

Because hjúkrunarfræðingur is a masculine singular noun in the nominative, and the definite form for that pattern becomes -urinn.

So:

• hjúkrunarfræðingur = a nurse
• hjúkrunarfræðingurinn = the nurse

This is not a random ending; it reflects both:

• the noun’s gender: masculine
• its number: singular
• its case: nominative
• and the fact that it is definite

It is grammatically masculine, yes. But grammatical gender and real-world sex are not always the same thing.

So hjúkrunarfræðingur is a masculine noun as far as Icelandic grammar is concerned, but that does not automatically mean the person is male. The sentence by itself does not have to tell you whether the nurse is a man or a woman.

English speakers often want grammatical gender to match natural gender exactly, but Icelandic does not always work that way.

Skammtar is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb skammta.

That means it is used with subjects like:

• hann = he
• hún = she
• það = it
• or any singular noun, such as hjúkrunarfræðingurinn

So here:

• Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn skammtar lyfin
  = The nurse dispenses the medicines

Icelandic does not need a separate word for he/she here, because the noun itself is the subject.

The basic verb is skammta.

Its core idea is to portion out, measure out, or dispense in set amounts. In a medical context, it often means to dispense medication or to give out doses.

So skammtar lyfin suggests not just handing over medicine casually, but giving it out in proper portions or doses.

Lyfin is the plural definite form of lyf.

• lyf = medicine / a medicine / drugs
• lyfin = the medicines / the medication

English often uses medicine as an uncountable word, but Icelandic frequently uses lyf in ways that are more naturally plural in English translation, especially when talking about medication in general or multiple medicines.

So depending on context, lyfin might be translated as:

• the medicines
• the drugs
• the medication

That ending shows that the noun is:

• definite = the
• plural
• and here it is the form used for a neuter plural object

The base noun is:

• lyf = medicine, drug

The definite plural form is:

• lyfin = the medicines / the drugs

So just like hjúkrunarfræðingurinn has the definite article attached, lyfin does too.

Here lyfin is the direct object of the verb skammtar, so it is in the accusative case.

The sentence structure is:

• Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn = subject
• skammtar = verb
• lyfin = direct object

So the nurse is doing the action, and the medicines are what is being dispensed.

A useful extra point: with many neuter plural nouns, the nominative and accusative forms look the same, so lyfin could look identical in both cases. Here we know it is accusative because of its role in the sentence.

Yes, in this sentence it is very similar to English:

• Subject + Verb + Object
• Hjúkrunarfræðingurinn skammtar lyfin
• The nurse dispenses the medicines

That said, Icelandic word order is more flexible than English because case endings help show what each noun is doing. Also, Icelandic main clauses follow a verb-second pattern, so if another element comes first, the verb still usually stays in second position.

But this sentence is the straightforward, neutral order.

In a natural translation, yes, sometimes it can be rendered as the medication if that sounds better in English.

Grammatically, though, lyfin is plural in Icelandic. So the most literal translation is the medicines or the drugs.

English and Icelandic do not always package medical vocabulary the same way:

• Icelandic may use a plural form
• English may prefer an uncountable word like medication

So the best translation depends on context, even though the Icelandic grammar is clearly plural.

Without the, it would be:

• Hjúkrunarfræðingur skammtar lyf.

That would mean something like:

• A nurse dispenses medicine
• A nurse dispenses medicines

But in actual Icelandic, bare nouns like that can feel more general or less natural depending on context. The original sentence with hjúkrunarfræðingurinn and lyfin is specifically talking about the nurse and the medicines.

The dictionary forms are:

• hjúkrunarfræðingur = nurse
• lyf = medicine, drug

The sentence uses inflected forms:

• hjúkrunarfræðingurinn = definite singular nominative
• lyfin = definite plural accusative here

So when you look words up, you would normally search for hjúkrunarfræðingur and lyf, not the exact forms from the sentence.