Við hugsum um öryggið í vinnunni.

Við means we.

It is the 1st person plural subject pronoun, so it tells you that the speaker is talking about a group that includes themselves.

Hugsum is the verb form that matches við (we).

The verb is að hugsa = to think.
Its present-tense forms include:

• ég hugsa = I think
• þú hugsar = you think
• við hugsum = we think

So Við hugsum means we think.

Hugsa um means to think about.

That is important because learners often try to translate word by word:

• hugsa = think
• um = about

But in practice, you should learn hugsa um as a unit, because it is the normal Icelandic way to say think about something.

Depending on context, hugsa um can also sometimes shade into care about, consider, or have in mind, but here the basic meaning is simply think about.

The preposition um is used after hugsa when you mean think about something.

So:

• hugsa um eitthvað = think about something

This is just the standard pattern Icelandic uses. English speakers often want to ask whether another preposition could be used, but with this meaning, um is the normal choice.

Öryggið is öryggi + the definite article.

• öryggi = safety
• öryggið = the safety

So the noun is öryggi, which is a neuter noun.

The ending -ið is the definite article attached to the noun. Icelandic usually adds the to the end of the word instead of using a separate word like English does.

Yes, um normally takes the accusative case.

However, with öryggi in the singular definite form, the nominative and accusative happen to look the same:

• nominative: öryggið
• accusative: öryggið

So the case does change grammatically, but you do not see a different spelling here.

This is very common in Icelandic: sometimes the case matters, but the form stays identical.

Í vinnunni means at work or in the workplace.

Here:

• í = in / at
• vinnunni = the work, in the dative singular

The preposition í can take different cases depending on meaning:

• accusative for movement into something
• dative for location in something

Here there is no movement. It means being located at work, so Icelandic uses the dative:

• í vinnunni = at work / in the workplace

The base form is vinna.

As a noun, vinna means work.
In this sentence, vinnunni is the dative singular definite form:

• vinna = work
• vinnan = the work
• vinnunni = in/at the work

In natural English, though, you would usually translate í vinnunni as at work, not literally in the work.

Also, be careful: vinna can also be a verb meaning to work, but here it is clearly a noun.

Icelandic often uses the definite article in places where English may or may not use the.

So:

• öryggið literally = the safety
• vinnunni literally = the work

But natural English may translate the whole sentence more smoothly as something like:

• We think about safety at work.

So the Icelandic definite forms do not always force a very literal English the in translation. The Icelandic sentence can still be perfectly natural.

This sentence has a very straightforward word order:

• Við = subject
• hugsum = verb
• um öryggið = prepositional phrase
• í vinnunni = prepositional phrase

So it is basically:

We think about the safety at work.

Nothing unusual is happening here. It is a simple main clause with standard word order.

That said, Icelandic is a verb-second language, so if you move another element to the front, the verb usually still stays in second position. For example, a different ordering could be possible for emphasis, but this sentence is the neutral, basic version.

Yes. In this sentence, í vinnunni is very naturally understood as at work.

Even though í often literally means in, Icelandic uses it in many expressions where English prefers at. So learners should not translate it too mechanically.

Here the most natural English idea is:

• at work
• in the workplace

A rough guide is something like UR-իգ-yith or ER-իգ-yith, but no English spelling matches it perfectly.

A few points:

• ö is like the vowel in French peur or German schön, not a normal English o
• y in Icelandic is pronounced like i
• the final ð is like the th in this

So öryggið may sound roughly like UR-ig-gith, with the last sound similar to th in this.

If pronunciation matters a lot to you, it is best to listen to native audio, because Icelandic vowels are hard to capture well in English spelling.

A rough guide is VIN-nun-ni.

Some helpful points:

• v is pronounced like English v
• i is like i in bit
• the double nn means the consonant is held a bit longer
• the stress is on the first syllable, as is usual in Icelandic

So the stress pattern is:

VIN-nun-ni

Possibly, depending on context, but the most direct meaning is We think about safety at work.

Because hugsa um can sometimes imply giving attention to something, English translations such as consider, keep in mind, or even care about may fit in some situations. But if you are learning the sentence as a basic pattern, the safest meaning is:

We think about safety at work.