Ég gleymdi að skrúfa fyrir kranann.

Gleymdi is the past tense of gleyma (to forget).

So:

• ég gleymi = I forget / I am forgetting
• ég gleymdi = I forgot

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a completed event in the past: they forgot to turn off the tap.

A useful thing to notice is that in the past tense, gleymdi is the same for ég (I) and hann/hún/það (he/she/it), so the pronoun helps tell you who did the action.

Here að is the infinitive marker, like to in English.

So:

• að skrúfa = to turn / to screw
• gleymdi að skrúfa = forgot to turn

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic:

• ég ætla að fara = I intend to go
• hann byrjaði að lesa = he started to read
• ég gleymdi að hringja = I forgot to call

So in this sentence, að skrúfa fyrir kranann is the thing the speaker forgot to do.

Skrúfa fyrir means to turn off / shut off something like a tap, valve, or water flow.

Literally, skrúfa means to screw or to twist, but in this kind of expression it refers to turning something closed.

So:

• skrúfa fyrir kranann = turn off the tap

This is one of those cases where the whole expression matters more than the individual words. If you translate word by word, it may feel strange, but as a phrase it is natural Icelandic.

Yes, fyrir has several meanings in Icelandic, and this is a good example of why prepositions often cannot be translated word-for-word.

In the phrase skrúfa fyrir, fyrir is part of the expression and helps give the meaning shut off / close off.

So even though fyrir can mean things like:

• for
• before
• in front of

in this sentence you should learn skrúfa fyrir as a unit.

This is similar to English phrasal verbs:

• turn off
• shut down
• give up

The small extra word changes the meaning of the verb.

Kranann is the definite accusative singular form of krani (tap, faucet).

Here is the basic pattern:

• krani = a tap / a faucet
• kraninn = the tap (subject form / nominative)
• kranann = the tap (object form / accusative)

In this sentence, kranann is the object of skrúfa fyrir, so the accusative form is used.

The -nn ending shows the definite article (the), but the exact form changes depending on case.

Because kranann does not belong directly to gleyma here. It belongs to the infinitive phrase að skrúfa fyrir kranann.

The structure is:

• Ég gleymdi = I forgot
• að skrúfa fyrir kranann = to turn off the tap

So the speaker forgot the action, not the tap itself.

This matters because gleyma often works differently when followed by a noun:

• Ég gleymdi lyklunum. = I forgot the keys.

In that kind of sentence, gleyma takes a dative object.

But in your sentence, gleyma is followed by að + infinitive, so the object kranann is inside the second clause and follows the grammar of skrúfa fyrir, not of gleyma.

This is a very important distinction.

1. gleyma einhverju

This means to forget something.

Example:

• Ég gleymdi símanum. = I forgot the phone.
• Ég gleymdi lyklunum. = I forgot the keys.

2. gleyma að gera eitthvað

This means to forget to do something.

Example:

• Ég gleymdi að hringja. = I forgot to call.
• Ég gleymdi að loka glugganum. = I forgot to close the window.

Your sentence is the second type:

• Ég gleymdi að skrúfa fyrir kranann.
• I forgot to turn off the tap.

So the idea is not that the speaker forgot the tap; they forgot the action of turning it off.

Yes, this is very normal and natural word order.

The sentence is:

• Ég = subject
• gleymdi = finite verb
• að skrúfa fyrir kranann = infinitive phrase

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + verb + infinitive phrase

That is a very common structure in Icelandic.

You could move things around in some contexts for emphasis, but this version is the straightforward neutral one that learners should be comfortable with first.

Yes. Both are fine, depending on your variety of English.

• In British English, tap is more common.
• In American English, faucet is more common.

So kranann here can be understood as either:

• the tap
• the faucet

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation might be:

yegg GLEYM-thi ath SKRU-va FY-rir KRA-nann

A few notes:

• Ég sounds roughly like yegg
• gleymdi has a d that combines with the following sound, often sounding a bit like th to English ears
• að is often pronounced more lightly than learners expect
• kranann has the stress on the first syllable: KRA-nann

As usual with Icelandic, listening to native audio is much more helpful than spelling-based approximation, but this can give you a starting point.

Sometimes yes, depending on context, but skrúfa fyrir kranann is a very natural way to say turn off the tap.

You may also come across related expressions such as:

• loka fyrir = close off / shut off
• opna = open
• drepa á for things like engines or devices in other contexts

But for a tap or valve that you physically turn, skrúfa fyrir is a very good and idiomatic choice.