Við villumst stundum á hálendinu ef stígarnir eru ekki skýrir.

Because the verb here is að villast, which means to get lost. The -st ending is part of the verb itself.

• við villumst = we get lost
• við villum would come from að villa, which usually means to mislead, to confuse, or to lead astray someone else

So villumst is the correct form for we get lost.

The dictionary form is að villast.

In this sentence, villumst is:

• present tense
• 1st person plural
• with the subject við = we

So the pattern is:

• ég villist = I get lost
• þú villist = you get lost
• við villumst = we get lost

The important thing for a learner is that að villast is a separate verb from að villa.

Stundum means sometimes.

Its position is very natural in Icelandic. In a main clause, an adverb like this often comes after the finite verb:

• Við villumst stundum ...

You can also move it for emphasis:

• Stundum villumst við ...

That is also correct, but then Icelandic follows its normal verb-second pattern, so the verb comes right after the fronted adverb.

This is because á can take different cases depending on meaning.

• location → usually dative
• motion toward a place → usually accusative

Here the meaning is on/in the highlands, meaning location, not movement toward it. So Icelandic uses the dative:

• á hálendinu = in/on the highlands

If the sentence were about going onto the highlands, you could expect a different case.

Hálendinu is the dative singular definite form of the neuter noun hálendi.

Breakdown:

• hálendi = highland / highlands
• hálendinu = the highlands / the highland, in the dative definite form

A useful thing to notice is that Icelandic often uses a singular form where English uses a plural place name. So á hálendinu is very natural even though English often says in the Highlands.

Stígarnir is the nominative plural definite form of stígur (path, trail).

Breakdown:

• stígur = a trail
• stígar = trails
• stígarnir = the trails

It is in the nominative because it is the subject of eru:

• stígarnir eru ekki skýrir = the trails are not clear

Because adjectives in Icelandic agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and often case.

Here the adjective describes stígarnir, which is:

• masculine
• plural
• nominative

So the adjective must match:

• stígarnir eru skýrir = the trails are clear

Also, because skýrir is used after eru as a predicate adjective, Icelandic uses the form that agrees with the subject.

After ef (if), Icelandic uses a subordinate clause. In this clause, the normal order is:

• subject + verb + ekki + adjective

So:

• ef stígarnir eru ekki skýrir

This is different from the main clause patterns where Icelandic often shows verb-second word order. After ef, the structure is more straightforward:

• stígarnir = subject
• eru = are
• ekki = not
• skýrir = clear

Sometimes yes, but they are not always exactly identical in tone.

• ekki skýrir = not clear
• óskýrir = unclear

In many contexts they are very close. In this sentence, ekki skýrir sounds very natural and slightly more neutral. It simply says that the trails are not clear enough to follow easily.

Icelandic normally keeps subject pronouns, even though the verb shows person and number.

So:

• Við villumst stundum ... = normal, natural Icelandic

Unlike some languages, Icelandic does not usually drop subject pronouns the way Spanish or Italian often can. So including við is exactly what a learner should expect.

Yes. Icelandic commonly uses hálendið / hálendinu as a singular collective term for the Icelandic interior highlands.

So even if English prefers the Highlands, Icelandic can still use a singular noun:

• á hálendinu = in the Highlands

This is a good example of how number does not always match exactly between English and Icelandic.