Stíflan í eldhúsinu er verri í dag, svo við hringjum í pípulagningamann.

Stífla means blockage / clog. The ending -an is the suffixed definite article, so stíflan means the blockage.

This is very common in Icelandic: instead of a separate word for the, Icelandic often adds the article to the end of the noun.

• stífla = a blockage
• stíflan = the blockage

Because í can take different cases depending on meaning:

• í + dative = location, in
• í + accusative = movement into, into

Here the blockage is already located in the kitchen, so Icelandic uses the dative:

• eldhúsi = kitchen, dative singular
• eldhúsinu = the kitchen, dative singular with the definite article

So í eldhúsinu means in the kitchen, not into the kitchen.

That ending shows two things at once:

• -i / -u type ending here reflects the dative singular
• -nu is part of the suffixed definite article

So eldhúsinu is the form for in the kitchen.

The base noun is:

• eldhús = kitchen

Then Icelandic changes the ending depending on case and definiteness.

Verri means worse. It is the comparative form of an irregular adjective meaning bad.

It appears as verri here because it agrees with stíflan, which is:

• feminine
• singular
• in the nominative

So:

• stíflan er verri = the blockage is worse

If the noun were different in gender or form, the adjective form could also change.

Yes. Í dag is the normal Icelandic expression for today.

Literally, it looks like in day, but you should learn it as a fixed time expression. Icelandic often uses prepositional phrases like this for time.

So:

• í dag = today
• á morgun = tomorrow
• í gær = yesterday

Here svo means so, introducing a result or consequence:

• Stíflan ... er verri í dag, svo ...
• The blockage ... is worse today, so ...

Depending on context, svo can also mean things like then, thus, or appear in other expressions, but in this sentence it is simply so.

Because hringjum is the 1st person plural present tense of hringja:

• ég hringi = I call
• við hringjum = we call / we are calling

The subject is við = we, so the verb has to match that.

In context, it can naturally mean we’re calling or we’ll call.

Icelandic present tense often covers meanings that English divides into several forms:

• simple present
• present progressive
• near future

So in this sentence, við hringjum í pípulagningamann most naturally means something like so we’re calling a plumber or so we’ll call a plumber.

Because that is the normal Icelandic pattern for to call / phone someone:

• hringja í einhvern = to call someone

So unlike English, the person being called is not just a plain direct object after the verb. Icelandic uses the preposition í with this verb.

You should learn it as a set phrase:

• Ég hringi í hana. = I call her.
• Við hringjum í pípulagningamann. = We call a plumber.

Because hringja í takes the person called in the accusative, and pípulagningamaður changes form in the accusative singular.

So:

• pípulagningamaður = a plumber (nominative)
• pípulagningamann = a plumber (accusative)

This happens with many masculine nouns ending in -maður:

• maður → mann
• kennari does not do this, but -maður nouns often do

So after í in this expression, you need pípulagningamann.

Because the noun is indefinite here: pípulagningamann has no definite article attached.

So:

• pípulagningamann = a plumber
• pípulagningamanninn = the plumber

The sentence is talking about calling some plumber, not a previously identified specific one.

Normally, no. Icelandic usually keeps subject pronouns visible.

Even though hringjum clearly shows we, Icelandic is not a language that regularly drops subject pronouns the way Spanish or Italian can.

So við hringjum is the normal full form.

Because after svo meaning so, the clause is functioning like a normal main clause, and the basic order here is:

• subject + verb
• við hringjum

If another element were placed first for emphasis, the verb would still tend to stay in second position, which is a very important pattern in Icelandic.

So the sentence uses a very ordinary, neutral word order: svo við hringjum í pípulagningamann.

Yes. Icelandic makes lots of long compound nouns.

Pípulagningamaður is built from parts meaning roughly:

• pípa = pipe
• lögn / lagning = laying / installation
• maður = man, person

So the whole word means plumber.

Long compounds are extremely common in Icelandic, so it is useful to get used to spotting the smaller pieces inside them.