Peysan means “the sweater / the jumper.”
The base word is peysa = a sweater / jumper (indefinite).
Icelandic usually doesn’t use a separate word for “the”; instead it adds a definite ending to the noun:
So the -n (here as -an) is the definite article attached to the noun.
Peysan is:
A small paradigm for peysa (“sweater”):
Indefinite (a sweater):
Definite (the sweater):
Hangir is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb að hanga = to hang.
Basic present tense of hanga:
So in Peysan hangir á stólnum, hangir matches the 3rd person singular subject peysan (the sweater).
Note that Icelandic present tense covers both English “hangs” and “is hanging”. Context decides which English form is best.
Icelandic usually uses a simple present verb where English often uses “is …-ing.”
You can say Peysan er að hanga á stólnum, but:
So hangir alone already expresses “is hanging”.
The base word is stóll = a chair (nominative singular, indefinite).
Stólnum means “the chair” in the dative singular:
So:
A small paradigm for stóll (“chair”):
Indefinite (a chair):
Definite (the chair):
In á stólnum, stólnum is dative definite: on the chair.
The preposition á can take dative or accusative, depending on the meaning:
In Peysan hangir á stólnum:
Compare:
So here:
The neutral word order is Subject – Verb – (rest), just like English:
But Icelandic follows a “verb-second” (V2) rule in main clauses: the finite verb tends to be in second position. You can move other elements to the front for emphasis as long as the verb stays second:
This is correct and natural, just more marked/emphatic.
Something like *Peysan á stólnum hangir (verb not second) is only really acceptable in poetic or special stylistic contexts, not as normal everyday prose.
If you make both nouns indefinite, you remove the definite endings:
Now:
You can also mix definite and indefinite, for example:
Approximate English-style pronunciation (very rough):
Put together:
More precise (IPA, approximate Icelandic):
In this sentence:
ey (in peysan) is a diphthong, pronounced roughly like “ay” in day:
á (the word á) is another diphthong, like “ow” in cow:
ó (in stólnum) is a long o sound, similar to the “o” in go or home:
These are distinct vowel sounds in Icelandic; you can’t swap them without changing the word.