Ég set vatn í ketilinn og tek skeið úr skúffunni.

Because setja and taka are the dictionary forms (infinitives), usually learned as að setja and að taka.

In the sentence, the verbs are conjugated for present tense, 1st person singular:

• ég set = I put
• ég tek = I take

So:

• að setja → ég set
• að taka → ég tek

A learner often notices that tek looks less predictable than set. That is because taka is an irregular verb.

Because both verbs have the same subject: I.

So Ég set vatn í ketilinn og tek skeið úr skúffunni means:

• I put water into the kettle and take a spoon out of the drawer

This works just like English I put ... and take ..., where the second I is understood.

You can repeat it:

• Ég set vatn í ketilinn og ég tek skeið úr skúffunni

But that is not necessary unless you want extra emphasis or clarity.

There is no separate word for a/an here, because Icelandic does not have an indefinite article like English does.

So a bare noun often corresponds to English a/an or just the noun in a general sense.

• skeið = a spoon
• vatn = water

This is very normal in Icelandic.

Because Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• ketill = kettle
• ketilinn = the kettle

and

• skúffa = drawer
• skúffunni = the drawer (in a particular case form)

This “attached the” is one of the most important basic features of Icelandic nouns.

Because the ending depends on gender, number, and case.

Here:

• ketill is masculine
• skúffa is feminine

They are also in different cases in this sentence:

• ketilinn = masculine, singular, definite, accusative
• skúffunni = feminine, singular, definite, dative

So even though both mean the ..., they do not use the same ending.

Because í can take different cases depending on meaning.

With movement into something, í takes the accusative. That is what is happening here:

• set vatn í ketilinn = put water into the kettle

If you were talking about location inside something, you would normally use the dative instead:

• Vatnið er í katlinum = The water is in the kettle

So Icelandic often shows the difference between in and into by case, not by changing the preposition.

Because úr means out of / from, and it takes the dative case.

So:

• úr skúffunni = out of the drawer

This is why the noun is not in its basic form skúffa, but in the dative definite form skúffunni.

A useful contrast is:

• úr = out of, from inside
• frá = from, away from more generally

So úr skúffunni is especially natural when something is taken from inside a drawer.

Because some Icelandic nouns have the same form in more than one case.

vatn is a neuter noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative are the same:

• nominative: vatn
• accusative: vatn

So even though vatn is the direct object of set, its form does not visibly change.

Also, because water is a mass noun, it is very often used without the definite article unless the context makes it specific.

Because skeið is indefinite here: a spoon, not the spoon.

• skeið = a spoon
• skeiðina = the spoon

So the sentence is talking about taking some spoon, not a specifically identified one.

Also, like many nouns, skeið does not show a special ending here for the accusative singular, so the bare form is normal.

They are:

• vatn — accusative, because it is the direct object of set
• ketilinn — accusative, because í takes accusative for movement into something
• skeið — accusative, because it is the direct object of tek
• skúffunni — dative, because úr takes dative

So this sentence is a nice example of two things at once:

1. verbs can control case for their objects
2. prepositions can also control case

The dictionary forms are:

• vatn — neuter
• ketill — masculine
• skeið — feminine
• skúffa — feminine

Knowing the gender matters because it affects:

• the definite article ending
• adjective endings
• some case forms

For example, ketill and skúffa behave differently partly because one is masculine and the other is feminine.

Yes. The sentence uses a very normal Icelandic main-clause order:

• Ég set vatn í ketilinn og tek skeið úr skúffunni.

This is the neutral pattern: subject + finite verb + rest.

But Icelandic is a V2 language, which means the finite verb tends to stay in the second position in main clauses. So if you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Núna set ég vatn í ketilinn og tek skeið úr skúffunni.

That is an important pattern to get used to early in Icelandic.