Fyrir neðan klettinn er grænn mosi, og dalurinn opnast hægt fyrir framan okkur.

to be

Breakdown of Fyrir neðan klettinn er grænn mosi, og dalurinn opnast hægt fyrir framan okkur.

• og: and
• hægt: slowly
• okkur: us

Questions & Answers about Fyrir neðan klettinn er grænn mosi, og dalurinn opnast hægt fyrir framan okkur.

Why is klettinn written with -inn instead of just klettur?

Because klettinn is the definite form: the rock.

A few useful pieces:

• klettur = rock / crag
• kletturinn = the rock in the nominative
• klettinn = the rock in the accusative

Here it appears after fyrir neðan, which takes the accusative in this kind of expression, so you get klettinn, not klettur or kletturinn.

So:

• klettur = a rock
• klettinn = the rock, in the form required by the preposition

What exactly does fyrir neðan mean?

Fyrir neðan means below / beneath / underneath.

It is a fixed prepositional expression used for location. In this sentence, it tells you where the moss is located:

• Fyrir neðan klettinn = below the rock

It is very common in Icelandic to build location phrases this way:

• fyrir neðan = below
• fyrir framan = in front of

Even though both begin with fyrir, you should learn the whole phrase as a unit.

Why is the verb er before grænn mosi?