Í mars vill hún ekki bara lesa meira, heldur líka hitta vini oftar, og í apríl byrjar hún að hjóla aftur.

Here í means in, as in in March and in April. With names of months, Icelandic normally uses í + dative:

• í mars = in March
• í apríl = in April

This is a very common time expression. You can think of it as the standard way to say in + month.

A few examples:

• í janúar = in January
• í maí = in May
• í desember = in December

So in this sentence, Í mars and í apríl are just time phrases telling us when things happen.

This is because Icelandic is a verb-second (V2) language in main clauses. That means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

So if the sentence begins with a time expression like Í mars, the verb comes next:

• Í mars vill hún...
  literally: In March wants she...

Not:

• Í mars hún vill...

This also happens later in the sentence:

• í apríl byrjar hún...

because í apríl takes the first position, so byrjar must come second.

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Icelandic.

Yes. Vilja (to want) is a modal-like verb, and it is followed directly by the infinitive, without að.

So:

• hún vill lesa = she wants to read
• hún vill hitta vini = she wants to meet friends

Compare:

• vilja + infinitive → no að

Examples:

• Ég vil fara. = I want to go.
• Við viljum læra. = We want to learn.

So vill hún ekki bara lesa meira... is completely normal: she doesn’t only want to read more...

This is a very common pattern meaning not only ... but also ...

In the sentence:

• hún vill ekki bara lesa meira, heldur líka hitta vini oftar

This means:

• she wants not only to read more, but also to meet friends more often

The pattern is:

• ekki bara X, heldur líka Y

Examples:

• Hann borðar ekki bara fisk, heldur líka kjöt.
  = He eats not only fish, but also meat.

• Við lærum ekki bara málfræði, heldur líka framburð.
  = We learn not only grammar, but also pronunciation.

So heldur líka is not usually understood literally word by word here; it works as part of the fixed contrastive structure.

Yes. Here meira means more, and it functions adverbially with lesa (to read).

• lesa meira = read more

It does not mean a bigger thing here; it means to a greater extent / in greater quantity.

Compare:

• að lesa meira = to read more
• að vinna meira = to work more
• að sofa meira = to sleep more

So meira is behaving much like English more in read more.

Oftar is the comparative form of oft (often).

• oft = often
• oftar = more often

So:

• hitta vini oftar = meet friends more often

Examples:

• Ég fer oft í sund. = I often go swimming.
• Ég fer oftar í sund núna. = I go swimming more often now.

Even if there is no explicit comparison like than before, Icelandic often uses the comparative naturally, just like English does:

• I want to read more
• I want to meet friends more often

Because hitta takes a direct object, and the direct object is in the accusative case.

The noun vinur (friend) has:

• nominative plural: vinir
• accusative plural: vini

So:

• hitta vini = meet friends

This is a very common pattern:

• ég sé vini = I see friends
• hún heimsækir vini = she visits friends

So vini is used because the friends are the object of the verb hitta.

Because Icelandic, like English, does not always need a definite article. Vini here simply means friends in a general sense.

So:

• hitta vini = meet friends

If the sentence meant specific known friends, Icelandic could use the definite form:

• hitta vinina = meet the friends / meet her friends (depending on context)

But in this sentence, the meaning is general:

• she wants to socialize more
• she wants to meet friends more often

So the indefinite/general plural vini is the natural choice.

Because different verbs govern different structures.

• vilja takes a bare infinitive:
  vill lesa, vill hitta

• byrja is commonly followed by að + infinitive:
  byrjar að hjóla

So:

• hún vill lesa = she wants to read
• hún byrjar að hjóla = she starts to bike / starts biking

This is something learners usually just have to memorize verb by verb.

A few examples:

• Ég byrja að vinna klukkan átta. = I start working at eight.
• Þau byrja að læra. = They begin to study.

Að hjóla means to bike, to cycle, or to ride a bicycle.

So:

• byrjar hún að hjóla aftur = she starts cycling again / starts biking again

The verb hjóla specifically refers to going by bicycle.

Examples:

• Ég hjóla í vinnuna. = I bike to work.
• Hún hjólar mikið á sumrin. = She cycles a lot in summer.

Aftur means again.

So:

• að hjóla aftur = to cycle again

Placing aftur near the end is very natural in Icelandic. It modifies the action and shows that she is returning to an activity she used to do before.

Examples:

• Ég les bókina aftur. = I read the book again.
• Hann byrjar aftur. = He starts again.
• Hún fer að syngja aftur. = She starts singing again.

So in this sentence, aftur tells us that in April she resumes biking.

Yes. Even after og (and), the clause í apríl byrjar hún að hjóla aftur still follows normal main-clause word order.

The first element of that clause is:

• í apríl

So the finite verb comes second:

• byrjar

Then comes the subject:

• hún

So:

• og í apríl byrjar hún að hjóla aftur

This is very typical Icelandic structure. English learners often expect og í apríl hún byrjar..., but Icelandic keeps the V2 pattern.

Yes, depending on context. Hitta often means meet, but in everyday language it can also be close to see in the sense of spend time with / get together with someone.

So:

• hitta vini oftar

could be understood as:

• meet friends more often
• see friends more often

In this sentence, the broader idea is probably socializing more often, not necessarily meeting for the first time or in a formal sense.

It breaks down like this:

• Í mars — time phrase
• vill hún — finite verb + subject
• ekki bara lesa meira — first infinitive idea
• heldur líka hitta vini oftar — contrasting second infinitive idea
• og í apríl — new coordinated clause with a new time phrase
• byrjar hún að hjóla aftur — finite verb + subject + infinitive phrase

So the sentence has two main time frames:

1. In March she wants to do two things:

   • read more
   • meet friends more often

2. In April she starts doing something else:

   • cycling again

That makes it a nice example of:

• time expressions
• verb-second word order
• infinitive constructions
• the pattern ekki bara ... heldur líka ...