Við göngum í skóginn eftir vinnu.

Ganga is the dictionary form, meaning to walk or to go on foot.

In the sentence, the verb has to match við (we), so it becomes göngum, which is the 1st person plural present tense:

• ég geng = I walk
• þú gengur = you walk
• við göngum = we walk

So Við göngum means we walk.

Við means we.

It is the subject of the sentence, so it tells you who is doing the action:

• Við göngum = We walk

Be careful not to confuse við meaning we with the preposition við meaning by, at, with, which is a different word in use even though it looks the same.

This is a very important Icelandic pattern.

The preposition í can take different cases depending on meaning:

• accusative = movement into/to something
• dative = location in something

So:

• í skóginn = into the forest / to the forest
• í skóginum = in the forest

In your sentence, í skóginn shows movement toward and into the forest, not just being located there.

The -inn is the definite article, meaning the.

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

So:

• skógur = forest
• skóginn = the forest (here in the accusative singular)

That means í skóginn is literally something like into the-forest.

Because the noun changes form for case, and here it is both:

1. definite = the forest
2. in the accusative singular after í when there is movement

The basic form is:

• skógur = forest

But in this sentence, it becomes:

• skóginn = the forest, accusative singular

This kind of change is normal in Icelandic. Nouns often change endings depending on their role in the sentence.

It mainly means walk, especially go on foot.

So Við göngum í skóginn suggests that we are walking there, not driving or taking a bus.

Compare:

• Við göngum í skóginn = We walk into/to the forest
• Við förum í skóginn = We go into/to the forest

Fara is more general: go, without saying how.
Ganga specifically emphasizes moving on foot.

Here eftir means after, and in this meaning it normally takes the dative.

So eftir vinnu means after work.

The noun vinna is one of those words whose oblique forms look the same, so even though this is dative, the form is still vinnu.

So the important point is:

• eftir + dative when it means after

Because Icelandic does not always use a definite article where English might.

Eftir vinnu is a very natural expression meaning after work in a general sense, like English after work without the.

If you wanted to be more specific, you could use a definite form in another context, but here eftir vinnu is the normal idiomatic phrase.

In this sentence, vinnu is best understood as work in the everyday sense of after work / after the workday.

So eftir vinnu is an idiomatic time expression, much like English after work.

It usually refers to the time after you finish your job or working day, not necessarily to a specific piece of work.

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible, although not completely free.

The neutral order here is:

• Við göngum í skóginn eftir vinnu.

You could also say:

• Eftir vinnu göngum við í skóginn.

That means the same thing: After work, we walk into/to the forest.

Notice what happens: when eftir vinnu comes first, the verb still stays in the second position, so you get:

• Eftir vinnu
  • göngum
    • við

This is a classic Icelandic verb-second pattern.

By itself, the present tense göngum can often describe either:

• a habit: We walk to the forest after work
• something more immediate, depending on context

Without extra context, many learners would read it as a habitual statement, especially because of eftir vinnu, which sounds like a routine.

If you wanted to make it clearly about the future, Icelandic often still uses the present tense with context:

• Við göngum í skóginn eftir vinnu í dag.
  = We’re walking to the forest after work today.

That depends on context and on what sounds most natural in English.

Grammatically, í skóginn literally suggests movement into the forest. But in normal English, you might sometimes translate it more smoothly as:

• into the forest
• to the forest

If the idea is that you end up inside the forest, into the forest is the most literal translation.
If English prefers a more natural phrasing in context, to the forest may sound better.

The key Icelandic point is: it is directional movement, not static location.

A rough English-friendly approximation is:

Vith GURNG-um ee SKOHG-inn EHP-tir VIN-nu

A few notes:

• ð in við is like the th in this
• ö in göngum is somewhat like the vowel in bird (but not exactly)
• ganga and its forms often have pronunciation patterns that are not obvious from spelling
• stress in Icelandic usually falls on the first syllable of each word:
  • VIÐ
  • GÖN-gum
  • SKÓG-inn
  • EFT-ir
  • VIN-nu

This is only an approximation, but it can help you get started.