Breakdown of Ég skil ekki nákvæmlega hvað hún meinar, svo ég bið hana að endurtaka það.
Questions & Answers about Ég skil ekki nákvæmlega hvað hún meinar, svo ég bið hana að endurtaka það.
Because it’s an embedded/indirect question (part of a larger sentence), not a direct question. In Icelandic, direct questions typically have verb-second order like Hvað meinar hún? (What does she mean?), but embedded questions usually keep the normal declarative order: hvað hún meinar (what she means).
ekki is the negation not. In Icelandic it often comes after the finite verb (the conjugated verb), as in Ég skil ekki... (I do not understand...). If there are more verb parts, ekki often comes after the finite verb but before non-finite parts, depending on structure.
nákvæmlega means exactly / precisely and narrows the meaning: I don’t understand exactly what she means (as opposed to not understanding at all). Adverbs like this commonly appear after the negation or around it, and you can sometimes shift them for emphasis, but Ég skil ekki nákvæmlega... is a very natural placement.
Yes, skil is present tense of skilja (to understand). Icelandic generally does not use a dedicated continuous/progressive form like English am understanding. The simple present covers both I understand and I am understanding, depending on context.
meinar is present tense (3rd person singular) of meina. meina can mean to mean (in the sense of intend/convey): hún meinar = she means / she intends.
Here svo functions like so / therefore, linking the two clauses: ..., so I ask her...
But svo is flexible and can also mean things like then, like this, or appear in expressions (for example, svona = like this). In this sentence it’s clearly the causal linker so.
It’s repeated because the second clause is a new finite clause: svo ég bið... = so I ask...
In Icelandic you can sometimes omit subjects in very informal contexts, but standard Icelandic generally keeps the subject pronoun when you start a new clause like this.
bið (from biðja) means I ask / I request.
bíð (from bíða) means I wait.
They look similar in writing, but the meaning and pronunciation differ, and the accent mark matters: i vs í.
Because hana is the accusative (object) form of hún (she). The verb biðja takes a direct object: bið hana = I ask her. Icelandic marks this with case, so the pronoun changes form.
að is the common infinitive marker (similar to English to) in this type of structure: bið hana að endurtaka = ask her to repeat. With many verbs of asking/requesting, að + infinitive is the normal pattern in Icelandic.
það means it/that and refers back to what she said or meant (the content to be repeated). Icelandic often uses það as the object of verbs like endurtaka (repeat): endurtaka það = repeat it.
Because it separates two independent clauses:
1) Ég skil ekki nákvæmlega hvað hún meinar
2) svo ég bið hana að endurtaka það
Using a comma here is standard punctuation when a conjunction like svo links two full clauses.
This sentence is already neutral and natural. More formal options might replace svo with something like þess vegna (therefore) for a slightly more explicit “because of that” feel:
Ég skil ekki nákvæmlega hvað hún meinar; þess vegna bið ég hana að endurtaka það.
More casual speech might shorten or simplify, but the given version is fine in everyday conversation.