Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig áður en hann fer út í rigninguna.

He puts on a hat and gloves before he goes out into the rain.

Breakdown of Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig áður en hann fer út í rigninguna.

• fara: to go
• hann: he
• áður en: before
• og: and
• rigningin: the rain
• húfan: the hat
• setja á sig: to put on
• hanskinn: the glove
• út í: out into

Questions & Answers about Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig áður en hann fer út í rigninguna.

In this sentence, does setur literally mean “puts”, or does it specifically mean “puts on (clothes)”?

The verb setur is the 3rd person singular present of setja (“to set / put”).
On its own, setja just means “to put, to set”.

It gets the meaning “put on (clothes)” because of the whole pattern:

• setja e-ð á sig = “put something on oneself”

So:

• Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig
  literally: “He puts a hat and gloves on himself”
  idiomatically: “He puts on a hat and gloves.”

The idea “put on (clothing)” comes from setja + [clothing] + á sig, not from setja alone.

Why do we say setur húfu og hanska á sig instead of just setur húfu og hanska?

If you said only Hann setur húfu og hanska, it would sound incomplete or mean something like:

• “He puts a hat and gloves (somewhere)” — but where?

The phrase á sig (“on himself”) tells you where he’s putting them and gives the idiomatic meaning “put on (clothes)”. So you normally need:

• setja [clothing] á sig = “to put [clothing] on (oneself)”

Why is it á sig and not á hann?

Icelandic uses a special reflexive pronoun for “himself / herself / themselves” in the 3rd person:

• sig (accusative) = himself / herself / itself / themselves
• á sig = “on himself / herself / themselves”

So:

• Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig.
  = He puts a hat and gloves on himself.

If you said á hann, it would mean “on him” referring to a different male person:

• Hann setur húfu á hann.
  = He puts a hat on him (on another guy), not on himself.

Why isn’t there any word for “a” before húfu and hanska?

Icelandic has no indefinite article (“a / an”) at all. You just use a bare noun:

• húfa = “a hat” or “hat”
• hanskar / hanska = “gloves”

So:

• Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig.
  = “He puts on a hat and (some) gloves.”

The idea of “a / some” is understood from context, not from a separate word.

Why are húfu and hanska in those forms, not húfa and hanskar?

Both nouns are in the accusative case, because they are direct objects of setur (and also objects of the preposition á in a motion sense).

1. húfu

• Basic form: húfa (“hat”, feminine)
• Accusative singular: húfu

So húfu here is “a hat” as a direct object.

2. hanska

• Basic form: hanski (“glove”, masculine)
• Accusative plural: hanska

For hanski, the plural is:

• Nom. pl.: hanskar (subject form)
• Acc. pl.: hanska (object form)

So hanska here is plural, “gloves”.

Taken together:

• húfu = “a hat” (acc. sg.)
• hanska = “(some) gloves” (acc. pl.)

The form hanska looks singular to me. How do I know it means “gloves” (plural) here?

You have to know the declension of hanski:

• Nom. sg.: hanski – “(a) glove”
• Acc. sg.: hanska
• Nom. pl.: hanskar – “gloves”
• Acc. pl.: hanska

So hanska can be either accusative singular or accusative plural.
Context tells you which is meant:

• húfu og hanska is naturally understood as “a hat and gloves”, not “a hat and a glove”, unless context strongly pushed you to a single glove.

Could we say Hann setur á sig húfu og hanska instead? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, Hann setur á sig húfu og hanska is also correct and normal.

Both are fine:

• Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig.
• Hann setur á sig húfu og hanska.

The meaning is the same (“He puts on a hat and gloves”). The difference is tiny:

• [húfu og hanska] á sig: slightly more neutral, object phrase then place.
• á sig [húfu og hanska]: very slightly emphasizes the action “on himself” first.

In everyday speech, both word orders sound natural.

Why is hann repeated: Hann setur … áður en hann fer …? Could we drop the second hann?

In Icelandic, you normally do not drop the subject pronoun in the 3rd person. Each finite clause needs its own subject:

• Main clause: Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig
• Subordinate clause: (áður en) hann fer út í rigninguna

If you removed the second hann:

• ✗ Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig áður en fer út í rigninguna.

this would sound wrong/unnatural to an Icelander. Icelandic is not a “pro‑drop” language in general, unlike Spanish or Italian.

What is the difference between fer here and other verbs like gengur or labbar for “go”?

• fara – fer: a very general “go, travel, leave”. Neutral about how you move.
• ganga – gengur: “walk” (on foot, usually a bit more formal/neutral).
• labba – labbar: also “walk”, but more colloquial / everyday.

In this sentence:

• hann fer út í rigninguna
  = “he goes out into the rain”

We’re not interested in how he moves (walking, driving, etc.), just the fact that he goes out, so fer is the natural general verb.

What does út í rigninguna literally mean, and why are both út and í used?

Literally:

• út = “out”
• í = “in / into”
• rigninguna = “the rain” (accusative, definite)

So út í rigninguna is “out into the rain”.

Why both?

• út expresses the movement outwards (from inside to outside).
• í rigninguna expresses the movement into the rain (the place he ends up).

Together, út í is a very common combination for “out into [somewhere]”:

• fara út í garðinn – go out into the garden
• fara út í búð – go out to the shop

Why is it í rigninguna with the -na ending, instead of just í rigningu or í rigningunni?

Rigning (“rain”, feminine) declines like this in the singular:

• Nom.: rigning – (the) rain (as subject)
• Acc.: rigningu
• Dat.: rigningu
• Gen.: rigningar

With the definite article:

• Nom. def.: rigningin – “the rain”
• Acc. def.: rigninguna
• Dat. def.: rigningunni

Now consider:

1. Case with í

   • í
     • accusative = motion into something
   • í
     • dative = location in something

   Here we have motion (“go out into the rain”), so accusative.

2. Definiteness

   • í rigningu = “into (some) rain” (indefinite)
   • í rigninguna = “into the rain” (definite)

So út í rigninguna is “out into the rain”, with accusative definite (-una) because of the motion.

What does áður en do here? Can I say áður en að?

áður en is a conjunction meaning “before (when …)” introducing a clause:

• áður en hann fer út í rigninguna
  = “before he goes out into the rain”

About áður en að:

• You may hear áður en að in casual speech, but in standard, careful Icelandic it’s usually considered unnecessary or incorrect.
• The recommended form is just áður en
  • clause.

So stick to:

• áður en hann fer út í rigninguna
  not
• ✗ áður en að hann fer út í rigninguna

How would the sentence look if I moved the time clause to the front, like “Before he goes out into the rain, he puts on a hat and gloves”?

You would say:

• Áður en hann fer út í rigninguna, setur hann húfu og hanska á sig.

Notes:

• The subordinate clause comes first: Áður en hann fer út í rigninguna
• In the main clause after that, Icelandic keeps the verb in second position, so you get:
  • setur hann, not hann setur (when the subject is not in first position).

Both word orders are correct and natural:

• Hann setur húfu og hanska á sig áður en hann fer út í rigninguna.
• Áður en hann fer út í rigninguna, setur hann húfu og hanska á sig.

How would this sentence change if the subject were “I” instead of “he”?

You would have to change the subject pronouns and the verb forms, and also the reflexive pronoun:

• Ég set húfu og hanska á mig áður en ég fer út í rigninguna.

Changes:

• Hann setur → Ég set
  (1st person singular of setja is set, not setur)
• á sig → á mig
  (mig is the 1st person accusative: “on me”)
• hann fer → ég fer

Are there other common ways to say “put on clothes” in Icelandic besides setja [föt] á sig?

Yes, several:

1. klæða sig í [föt] – literally “dress oneself in [clothes]”

   • Hann klæðir sig í jakka og húfu.
     = He puts on a jacket and a hat.

2. fara í [föt] – literally “go into [clothes]”
   Very common in everyday speech:

   • Hann fer í frakkann. – He puts on his coat.
   • Ég fer í hanskana. – I put on my gloves.

3. klæða sig on its own (without specifying the clothes) just means “get dressed”.

setja [föt] á sig is very clear and idiomatic, but you will also hear fara í and klæða sig í a lot.

How is rigninguna pronounced, especially the gn part?

A typical Icelandic pronunciation is roughly:

• rigninguna → [ˈrɪk.nɪ.ŋʏ.na]

Key points:

• ri like “ri” in “risky”, but shorter.
• gn is pronounced [kn] in Icelandic, so rign- sounds like rikn-.
• -una has a short u [ʏ] (like German “ü”) and a clear a at the end.

So to an English ear, it’s close to “RIK-ni-ngu-na”, with the gn cluster sounding like kn.