Meðan starfsmaðurinn athugar garðaúrganginn borgum við móttökugjaldið.

Meðan means while in this sentence. It introduces a subordinate time clause: Meðan starfsmaðurinn athugar garðaúrganginn = while the employee checks the garden waste.

A useful thing to notice is that meðan is followed by a full clause with a subject and a finite verb. You do not need an extra að here.

Because Icelandic very often puts the definite article onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

In this sentence:

• starfsmaðurinn = the employee
• garðaúrganginn = the garden waste
• móttökugjaldið = the reception fee / intake fee

So instead of a separate word like English the, Icelandic commonly uses endings such as -inn or -ið, depending on the noun’s gender and case.

The form of the definite article depends on the noun’s gender, number, and case.

Here:

• starfsmaðurinn is masculine singular definite
• garðaúrganginn is also masculine singular definite
• móttökugjaldið is neuter singular definite

That is why the neuter noun has -ið instead of -inn.

Also, the article ending is not the only thing showing grammar. The noun itself can change too. For example, starfsmaðurinn is nominative, but if it were an object, it would be starfsmanninn.

Athugar is the present tense form of athuga, meaning to check / examine / inspect.

Here it is used with the third-person singular subject starfsmaðurinn:

• starfsmaðurinn athugar = the employee checks

So this is the normal present-tense verb form for that subject in this sentence.

Garðaúrgangur is a compound noun meaning garden waste.

The second part is:

• úrgangur = waste

The first part:

• garða- comes from garður = garden
• in compounds, Icelandic often uses a form related to the genitive

So garðaúrgangur is basically garden-waste or more literally something like waste of gardens.

In the sentence, it appears as garðaúrganginn, which is the definite accusative singular form, because it is the direct object of athugar.

Because it is the direct object of the verb athugar.

The structure is:

• starfsmaðurinn = subject
• athugar = verb
• garðaúrganginn = the thing being checked

Many Icelandic verbs take a direct object in the accusative, and athuga is one of them. So the sentence uses the accusative form of garðaúrgangur.

This is because Icelandic follows a verb-second pattern in main clauses.

The first slot in the sentence is already occupied by the whole subordinate clause:

• Meðan starfsmaðurinn athugar garðaúrganginn

After that, the finite verb of the main clause comes next:

• borgum

And then the subject:

• við

So:

• Meðan ... borgum við ...

This word order is very normal in Icelandic. If the main clause stood by itself, you would usually say:

• Við borgum móttökugjaldið.

But after an initial clause like Meðan ..., inversion is expected.

Borgum is the present tense, first-person plural form of borga, meaning to pay.

So:

• við borgum = we pay

In English, this could correspond to we pay, we are paying, or sometimes even a routine/procedural we pay depending on context.

Móttökugjaldið is the definite singular form of móttökugjald, a neuter noun meaning something like reception fee, acceptance fee, or intake fee depending on context.

It is the direct object of borgum, so it is in the accusative. For this neuter noun, the nominative and accusative singular look the same, and with the definite article attached you get:

• móttökugjaldið

The -ið ending reflects that the noun is neuter.

They are present tense forms, but Icelandic present tense can be used in more than one way.

This sentence could mean:

• something happening right now
• a usual procedure
• a step in a process or instruction

So it can naturally mean something like While the employee checks the garden waste, we pay the fee as part of a routine, not only as a one-time event happening this exact second.

That is a good thing to notice. Icelandic comma use is not always the same as English comma use.

In modern Icelandic, a sentence like this without a comma is perfectly normal:

• Meðan starfsmaðurinn athugar garðaúrganginn borgum við móttökugjaldið.

You may also see commas in some styles, but Icelandic does not automatically mirror English punctuation here. So the lack of a comma is not a mistake.