Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Sveitasafnið sýnir hvernig bændur og hestar unnu saman á árum áður. - The rural museum shows how farmers and horses worked together in earlier times.

sveit = countryside, rural area
sveita- = the genitive form used in compounds (literally “of the countryside”)
safn = collection, museum
-ið = the neuter definite ending “the”

So sveita + safn + ið → Sveitasafnið = “the rural museum / the countryside museum” (often something like an open‑air or local farm-life museum).

Grammatically, it is:

gender: neuter
case: nominative
number: singular
definiteness: definite (because of -ið)

Why is the definite article attached as -ið instead of using a separate word like “the”?

In Icelandic, most definite articles are suffixes, not separate words:

safn = a museum / museum (indefinite)
safnið = the museum (definite)

The pattern for neuter nouns in the nominative singular is often:

base noun -ið
= “the X”

So instead of “the countryside museum” with a separate “the,” Icelandic uses one word: Sveitasafnið.

What is the grammatical subject of the sentence? Are bændur og hestar also subjects?

The sentence has two clauses, each with its own subject and verb:

Main clause:
- Subject: Sveitasafnið
- Verb: sýnir (“shows”)
- Object: the whole hvernig‑clause
Subordinate clause introduced by hvernig:
- Subject: bændur og hestar (“farmers and horses”)
- Verb: unnu (“worked”)
- Adverb: saman (“together”)
- Time phrase: á árum áður (“in earlier times”)

So:

Overall subject of the sentence: Sveitasafnið
Subjects inside the hvernig‑clause: bændur and hestar

Why is sýnir in the present tense while unnu is in the past tense?

Because two different time frames are being talked about:

sýnir = present tense of sýna (“to show”)
- The museum now shows this to visitors.
unnu = past tense plural of vinna (“to work”)
- Farmers and horses used to work together like this in the past.

So the museum currently shows something that happened in earlier times, which is why you see present in the main clause and past in the subordinate clause.

What verb does sýnir come from, and how is it conjugated?

sýnir comes from the verb sýna (“to show”).

Basic present tense of sýna:

ég sýni – I show
þú sýnir – you (sg.) show
hann / hún / það sýnir – he / she / it shows
við sýnum – we show
þið sýnið – you (pl.) show
þeir / þær / þau sýna – they show

In the sentence, the subject Sveitasafnið is third person singular, so you get sýnir.

What verb does unnu come from, and why is it so different from vinna?

unnu is the past tense (preterite) plural form of the verb vinna (“to work, to win, to do”).

vinna is an irregular strong verb, so its past tense changes the stem vowel:

A typical preterite pattern is:

ég vann – I worked
þú vannst – you worked
hann / hún / það vann – he / she / it worked
við unnum – we worked
þið unnuð – you (pl.) worked
þeir / þær / þau unnu – they worked

In the sentence, the subject is plural (bændur og hestar), so the correct form is third person plural past: unnu.

Why are bændur and hestar in the nominative plural?

Because bændur og hestar are the subjects of the verb unnu in the subordinate clause.

Subjects in Icelandic normally appear in the nominative case.
They are plural (“farmers and horses”), so both nouns are in nominative plural.

Details:

bóndi (farmer) → bændur (farmers)
- This is an irregular plural.
hestur (horse) → hestar (horses)
- A regular masculine plural.

So bændur og hestar is “farmers and horses” in nominative plural, agreeing with the plural verb unnu.

What exactly does hvernig do here? Isn’t it a question word?

Yes, hvernig is the interrogative word “how”, but in Icelandic it is also used to introduce indirect questions or content clauses, just like English how.

Direct question:
Hvernig unnu bændur og hestar saman?
“How did farmers and horses work together?”
Indirect/content clause:
Sveitasafnið sýnir hvernig bændur og hestar unnu saman.
“The museum shows how farmers and horses worked together.”

So here hvernig introduces the clause that functions as the object of sýnir. Word order inside the hvernig‑clause is subject–verb, not the inverted question order.

What does saman mean, and where does it normally go in the sentence?

saman means “together”.

It is an adverb and commonly appears:

After the verb: unna saman = “work together”
Or after the verb phrase: unnu saman á árum áður

In Icelandic, adverbs like saman are flexible but often come after the main verb. So unnu saman is the most natural order here.

What does the phrase á árum áður mean, and what are the forms of árum and áður?

á árum áður is a fixed, idiomatic time expression meaning roughly:

“in earlier years”
“in the old days”

Component parts:

árum = dative plural of ár (“year”)
- nominative singular: ár
- dative plural: árum
áður = an adverb meaning “before, earlier”

So literally, á árum áður is like “in years before,” but idiomatically it’s “in earlier times / in past years.”

Why does á take the dative case in á árum áður?

The preposition á can take either accusative or dative, depending on the meaning:

á + accusative: movement onto/into something, or duration
e.g. setja bók á borðið – “to put a book on the table”
á + dative: position on/in something, or a point in time
e.g. bókin er á borðinu – “the book is on the table”

With time expressions, when you mean “during / in” a period, á usually takes the dative.

So:

á árum áður = “in earlier years” → static time frame → dative plural árum

Could the sentence be rephrased with a different time expression, and would the grammar change?

Yes, a very natural alternative is:

Sveitasafnið sýnir hvernig bændur og hestar unnu saman í gamla daga.

Here:

í gamla daga = “in the old days”
- í (“in”) + gamla (accusative plural masculine of gamall, “old”) + daga (accusative plural of dagur, “day”)
- Literally: “in old days”

The overall grammar is the same:

Sveitasafnið (subject) + sýnir (present) + hvernig‑clause (object)
Inside the clause: bændur og hestar (subject) + unnu (past) + saman (adverb) + time phrase (í gamla daga instead of á árum áður).

Can the time phrase be moved to the beginning, and what happens to word order?

Yes. For example:

Á árum áður unnu bændur og hestar saman.

Here á árum áður is moved to the front of its clause. Icelandic is a verb‑second (V2) language in main clauses, so:

First position: Á árum áður (time phrase)
Second position: unnu (verb)
Then: bændur og hestar (subject) + saman

The same applies in a full sentence:

Sveitasafnið sýnir hvernig á árum áður unnu bændur og hestar saman.

Inside the hvernig‑clause, the verb unnu must still come in the second position of that clause after the fronted time phrase.