Lögreglan rannsakar glæpinn.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

So:

• lögregla = police
• lögreglan = the police

and

• glæpur = crime
• glæpinn = the crime

This is very common in Icelandic. The exact form of the ending changes depending on the noun’s gender, number, and case.

In this sentence, lögreglan is grammatically singular in Icelandic.

That is why the verb is also singular:

• lögreglan rannsakar = the police investigates / is investigating

Even though English usually treats police as plural, Icelandic lögregla is often used as a singular collective noun, more like the police force.

So the grammar is Icelandic, not English:

• singular subject
• singular verb

Rannsakar is the present tense form of the verb að rannsaka, meaning to investigate.

Here it agrees with the singular subject lögreglan.

A simple breakdown:

• að rannsaka = to investigate
• ég rannsaka = I investigate
• þú rannsakar = you investigate
• hann/hún/það rannsakar = he/she/it investigates

Since lögreglan is singular, Icelandic uses the same form as for he/she/it: rannsakar.

Because glæpinn is the object of the verb, and after rannsaka the object normally appears in the accusative case.

The dictionary form is:

• glæpur = crime

But in this sentence, we need:

• accusative singular definite = glæpinn

So the sentence structure is:

• Lögreglan = subject
• rannsakar = verb
• glæpinn = direct object

A learner-friendly way to think about it is:

• glæpur = a crime
• glæpinn = the crime, when used here as the thing being investigated

The dictionary forms are:

• lögregla = police
• að rannsaka = to investigate
• glæpur = crime

The sentence uses inflected forms:

• lögreglan = lögregla
  • definite article
• rannsakar = present tense of að rannsaka
• glæpinn = accusative singular definite form of glæpur

This is very typical of Icelandic: the form you see in a sentence is often not the bare dictionary form.

Yes, it matters a lot in Icelandic.

• lögregla is feminine
• glæpur is masculine

Gender affects:

• the form of the definite article
• adjective endings
• some pronouns and other agreement patterns

That helps explain why the definite forms look different:

• lögregla → lögreglan
• glæpur → glæpinn

The endings are not random; they reflect each noun’s gender and case.

Usually not in the same way English does.

Rannsakar can often mean either:

• investigates
• is investigating

The exact meaning depends on context.

So Lögreglan rannsakar glæpinn could be understood as either:

• The police investigates the crime
• The police is investigating the crime
• more naturally in English, often The police are investigating the crime, depending on context

Icelandic does have ways to emphasize ongoing action, but the simple present is often enough.

Yes, Icelandic word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings help show who is doing what.

The normal straightforward order here is:

• Lögreglan rannsakar glæpinn.

But other orders are possible for emphasis or style, for example:

• Glæpinn rannsakar lögreglan.

That still means The police investigate the crime, because glæpinn is clearly the object in the accusative.

However, the basic subject–verb–object order is the safest and most neutral pattern for learners.

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation is:

• LÖGK-reg-lan rann-sah-kar GLY-pinn

A few helpful notes:

• ö is somewhat like the vowel in French bleu or German schön
• æ in glæpinn is pronounced a bit like eye in many modern pronunciations
• ll in lögreglan is just a normal l here, because the ll sound changes happen in some words but not in this one
• Stress in Icelandic usually falls on the first syllable of each word:
  • LÖGreglan
  • RANNSakar
  • GLÆpinn

If you want to sound natural, first-syllable stress is one of the most important habits to build.

Because Icelandic usually expresses the as a suffix attached to the noun.

So instead of English:

• the police
• the crime

Icelandic says:

• lögreglan
• glæpinn

There is a separate word hinn in Icelandic, but in ordinary sentences the suffixed article is much more common. For a beginner, it is best to expect the to be built into the noun itself most of the time.