Hann hefur sterka rödd.

• Hann = he
• hefur = has
• sterka = strong
• rödd = voice

So the sentence is literally He has strong voice, and in natural English: He has a strong voice.

Hafa is the infinitive, meaning to have.
Hefur is the 3rd person singular present tense form, used with hann (he), hún (she), and það (it).

A few present-tense forms of hafa:

• ég hef = I have
• þú hefur = you have
• hann/hún/það hefur = he/she/it has
• við höfum = we have
• þið hafið = you all have
• þeir/þær/þau hafa = they have

So Hann hefur means He has.

Because the adjective has to match the noun it describes in gender, number, and case.

Here, rödd is:

• feminine
• singular
• accusative

So the adjective sterkur (strong) changes to the correct form:

• sterka

That is why you get:

• sterka rödd = a strong voice

This is a very important feature of Icelandic: adjectives change form depending on the noun.

Because it is the direct object of the verb hefur.

In the sentence:

• Hann = subject
• hefur = verb
• sterka rödd = direct object

Many Icelandic verbs, including hafa, take a direct object in the accusative.

So:

• nominative: rödd
• accusative: rödd

In this noun, the form happens to be the same in nominative and accusative singular, but the adjective shows the case clearly:

• nominative: sterk rödd
• accusative: sterka rödd

Rödd is a feminine noun.

You usually learn noun gender together with the noun, because Icelandic nouns do not always make their gender obvious just from the ending. Over time, you start recognizing patterns, but it is still best to memorize gender from the start.

Because rödd is feminine, the adjective must use the feminine form:

• sterk rödd / sterka rödd

If the noun were masculine or neuter, the adjective form would be different.

Icelandic does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• rödd can mean voice
• sterka rödd can mean a strong voice

The idea of indefiniteness is usually understood from context.

Icelandic does have a definite article, but it is often attached to the noun as an ending rather than written as a separate word.

For example:

• rödd = voice / a voice
• röddin = the voice

So:

• Hann hefur sterka rödd = He has a strong voice
• Hann hefur sterku röddina would involve the strong voice in a different structure

You would need the definite noun and the adjective in the weak form.

That gives:

• Hann hefur sterku röddina

Breakdown:

• sterku = weak feminine singular accusative form of sterkur
• röddina = the voice (accusative singular definite)

This shows an important Icelandic pattern:

• strong adjective + indefinite noun: sterka rödd
• weak adjective + definite noun: sterku röddina

A rough guide:

• r = a rolled or tapped r
• ö = a vowel somewhat like the u in some pronunciations of burn, but rounded
• dd here sounds like a d sound, not like English th

A rough English-style approximation might be something like rutth or rerdh, but neither is exact. The Icelandic vowel ö is the tricky part.

If you want to sound more natural, focus on:

• a clear rolled/tapped r
• a rounded ö
• a firm final d

In hefur, the f is not pronounced like a normal English f.

In many Icelandic words, f between vowels is pronounced more like v. So hefur sounds approximately like:

• HEH-vur

not HEH-fur.

That pronunciation pattern is very common in Icelandic and is worth getting used to early.

The dictionary form is sterkur, meaning strong.

You usually learn adjectives in the masculine nominative singular form, which is treated as the basic form. From that base form, the adjective changes depending on the noun.

Some forms of sterkur:

• masculine nominative singular: sterkur
• feminine nominative singular: sterk
• feminine accusative singular: sterka
• neuter nominative/accusative singular: sterkt

So sterka is just one grammatical form of the adjective sterkur.

Yes, that is also natural Icelandic.

• Hann hefur sterka rödd
• Hann er með sterka rödd

Both can mean He has a strong voice.

However, hafa is the direct verb to have, while vera með literally means something like to be with and is also very common in everyday Icelandic for possession.

So both are useful, and learners will hear both patterns.

This is the normal Icelandic main-clause order:

• subject
  • verb
    • object

So:

• Hann = subject
• hefur = verb
• sterka rödd = object

That matches basic English word order quite closely:

• He has a strong voice

Icelandic word order can change in some contexts, especially when another element comes first, but this sentence uses the most straightforward pattern.

The nominative form is:

• sterk rödd

This is what you would use if strong voice were the subject of a sentence.

For example:

• Sterk rödd hjálpar. = A strong voice helps.

Compare:

• sterk rödd = nominative
• sterka rödd = accusative

This is a useful pair to memorize, because it shows how the adjective changes with case.

It has some irregular features, so it is best to learn it carefully rather than assuming it follows a simple pattern.

What matters most for this sentence is:

• it is feminine
• here it is singular
• after hefur, it appears as an accusative object

Because Icelandic noun declension can be unpredictable, many learners memorize nouns together with:

1. their gender
2. their singular forms
3. sometimes a full declension pattern

For rödd, that is a smart idea.

A very useful set of takeaways would be:

• hann = he
• hafa → hefur = to have → has
• rödd is feminine
• hafa takes an accusative object
• adjectives must agree with nouns, so sterkur becomes sterka here
• Icelandic has no indefinite article like English a/an

A good mini-pattern to memorize is:

• Hann hefur sterka rödd.
• Hún hefur fallega rödd.
• Ég hef góða rödd.

That helps you get used to hefur / hef plus an accusative noun phrase with an agreeing adjective.