Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Þau skipuleggja tíma saman til að gera samband sitt sterkara og treysta hvort öðru. - They organize time together to make their relationship stronger and to trust each other.

Þeir – they (masculine), used when the group is all male.
Þær – they (feminine), used when the group is all female.
Þau – they (neuter), used:
- for mixed‑gender groups, or
- when gender is unspecified/irrelevant.

In this sentence, Þau suggests either a mixed couple/group or simply a neutral they, which is very common when talking about a couple in general (like “partners in a relationship”) without focusing on gender.

What exactly does skipuleggja mean, and why is tíma in this form?

Skipuleggja means to plan / to organize / to arrange.

The base noun is tími (time).
Here we see tíma, which is accusative singular of tími.

In Icelandic, the direct object of a verb is often in the accusative.
So:

Þau skipuleggja tíma = They plan (some) time.

There is no separate indefinite article, so tíma can mean time / a time / some time, depending on context.

Why is it tíma saman and not saman tíma?

The usual word order in Icelandic is:

verb – object – adverb

So:

skipuleggja tíma saman = plan time together

Putting saman (together) right after the object tíma is the normal pattern.

You can find saman earlier in a sentence for emphasis, but [...] tíma saman is the most natural neutral order here.
Saman tíma as a fixed phrase would sound odd; sama tíma (without n) would mean the same time, which is something different.

What is the function of til að in til að gera?

Til að is a very common way to express purpose, roughly in order to.

Structure:

til að
- infinitive verb

So:

til að gera samband sitt sterkara
≈ in order to make their relationship stronger

Without til, plain að can also introduce an infinitive, but til að makes the “purpose” meaning very clear:

Ég fór út að hlaupa. = I went out to run.
Ég fór út til að hlaupa. = I went out in order to run. (slightly more explicit/goal‑focused)

Why is gera used here? I thought it meant to do.

Gera does often mean to do, but it also means to make in constructions like:

gera eitthvað sterkt – make something strong
gera eitthvað fallegt – make something beautiful

The pattern is:

gera
- object
  - adjective (in the right form)

So:

gera samband sitt sterkara = make their relationship stronger

Here gera cannot be translated as “do”; it is really the “make X [adjective]” usage.

Why is it samband sitt and not samband þeirra?

Icelandic has reflexive possessive pronouns, which refer back to the subject of the clause:

sinn (masc.), sín (fem.), sitt (neut.) – one’s own / their own

Key rule:

Use sinn/sín/sitt when the owner is the subject of the same clause.
Use hans / hennar / þeirra when the owner is someone else.

Here, subject = Þau (they), and the relationship belongs to them themselves, so we use the reflexive:

samband sitt = their own relationship

If we said samband þeirra, it would more naturally mean someone else’s relationship (belonging to “them”), not the couple’s own.

Why is it sitt and sterkara? What are these forms agreeing with?

Both sitt and sterkara are agreeing with the noun samband.

samband is neuter singular.
In the sentence it is the object of gera, so it is in accusative singular.

Agreement:

sitt – reflexive possessive, neuter singular accusative, matching samband.
sterkara – comparative form of sterkur (strong), here neuter singular accusative to agree with samband as well.

So we have:

gera [samband (n. acc. sg.)] [sitt (n. acc. sg.)] [sterkara (n. acc. sg.)]
= make their relationship stronger

Why is it sterkara and not something like sterkt or sterk?

Sterkara is the comparative form of the adjective sterkur (strong).

Adjective degrees:

sterkur – strong (positive)
sterkari – stronger (masc./fem. nom. sg.)
sterkara – stronger (neuter, or other cases)

Because samband is neuter, and it is the object (accusative), we get:

sterkara samband – a stronger relationship

Sterkt samband would be a strong relationship (not necessarily stronger than before).
We need the comparative meaning here, so sterkara is required.

How does treysta work here, and why isn’t anything marked as an object?

Treysta means to trust / rely on and governs the dative case.

Usually you would say:

Ég treysti þér. – I trust you. (þér = dative of þú)

In this sentence, the phrase hvort öðru (each other) is the dative object of treysta:

treysta hvort öðru – trust each other

So there is an object; it is just expressed with the reciprocal phrase hvort öðru, which is already in dative to match the verb’s requirement.

What does hvort öðru literally mean, and why this form?

Hvort öðru is a very common way to say each other.

Literally:

hvort – originally “which (of two), each (of two)”, here used in a reciprocal sense.
öðru – a form of annar (another/other), here neuter dative singular: öðru.

The whole phrase functions as:

hvort öðru – each other, in dative, because treysta takes the dative.

So:

treysta hvort öðru ≈ to trust each other

You will meet hvort annað / hvort öðru very often as the set phrase for mutual actions: elska hvort annað, hjálpa hvort öðru, etc., with the case changing according to the verb.

Is there a difference between hvort öðru and something like hvorn annan?

Native speakers do sometimes use other forms (e.g. hvorn annan, hvor öðrum) depending on gender and case, but in modern everyday language:

hvort annað and hvort öðru are very common, fairly neutral set phrases for each other.

The main point for a learner:

Learn hvort annað / hvora aðra / hvorn annan / hvori annarri / hvors annars / hvors annarrar / hvors annars, etc., in theory (full paradigm).
But in practice, you will hear hvort annað and hvort öðru extremely often, and they are widely accepted.

In this sentence, hvort öðru is standard, idiomatic, and matches the dative required by treysta.

How are the two actions gera samband sitt sterkara and treysta hvort öðru connected grammatically?

They are both infinitive phrases governed by the same til að:

til að gera samband sitt sterkara og treysta hvort öðru

Structure:

til að
- [gera samband sitt sterkara]
  - og
    - [treysta hvort öðru]

So til að applies to both verbs:

They plan time together in order to (1) make their relationship stronger and (2) trust each other.

This is similar to English:
“...to make their relationship stronger and (to) trust each other” – the second “to” is omitted but understood.

Why is the verb skipuleggja in the present tense here? Could it also refer to future or habitual action?

In Icelandic, as in English, the present tense can express:

Current action – They are (now) planning time together.
Habitual/repeated action – They regularly plan time together.
Near future / planned future – They are going to plan / are planning time together.

Without extra context, it most naturally feels like a general or habitual statement about what they do to improve their relationship. Using the simple present for that is completely normal in Icelandic.

How do you pronounce Þau, skipuleggja, and hvort öðru?

Approximate pronunciation (not strict IPA, but learner‑friendly):

Þau
- Þ = like th in thin
- au = roughly like “öy” or English “oy” but with Icelandic ö quality
- Whole word: something like “thœy”.
skipuleggja
- ski – like ski in English (but short i)
- pu – p
  - u like in put, but Icelandic u
- leggja – leg‑ya; gg before j is pronounced gy, and ll/nn/pp + j often give a “tj/ndj/etc.”-type sound; here it’s close to “legja”
- Whole word: roughly “SKI‑pu‑leg‑ya”, with the stress on the first syllable.
hvort öðru
- hv – a bit like kv or hw; many speakers pronounce it close to kv
- or – like English or but shorter
- t – clear t
- öðru – ö like German ö in schön; ð like th in this, then ru
- Whole phrase: roughly “kvohrt œð‑ru”.

All Icelandic words are stressed on the first syllable.