Eiginkona hans brosir alltaf þegar hún sér eiginmann sinn við hurðina.

In Icelandic, possessive words like hans (his), hennar (her), and þeirra (their) very often come after the noun.

So:

• eiginkona hans = his wife
• hús þeirra = their house

For an English speaker, this feels backwards at first, but it is completely normal Icelandic word order.

Also, with family words and similar nouns, Icelandic often leaves out the definite article in this kind of phrase, so eiginkona hans is natural, not eiginkonan hans in this context.

Icelandic usually does not have a separate word like English the. Instead, the definite article is typically attached to the end of the noun.

For example:

• hurð = door
• hurðin = the door
• hurðina = the door in the accusative case

In this sentence, hurðina already includes the.

But notice that eiginkona hans does not have the definite article. That is common with kinship terms and possessive phrases like:

• móðir mín = my mother
• faðir hans = his father
• eiginkona hans = his wife

Historically, they are built from eigin-, which is related to own, plus:

• kona = woman
• maður = man

But in modern Icelandic, eiginkona and eiginmaður are just normal words meaning:

• eiginkona = wife
• eiginmaður = husband

So in this sentence, you should understand them as ordinary vocabulary items, not as a literal phrase like own woman or own man.

Because brosir is the conjugated verb form, while brosa is the infinitive.

• brosa = to smile
• brosir = smiles

Here the subject is eiginkona hans (his wife), which is third person singular, so the verb must also be third person singular present:

• eiginkona hans brosir = his wife smiles

For the same reason: sjá is the infinitive (to see), while sér is a present-tense conjugated form.

• sjá = to see
• sér = sees

This verb is irregular, so the form changes quite a bit:

• ég sé = I see
• hún sér = she sees

So þegar hún sér... means when she sees...

Because eiginmann is in the accusative case, not the nominative.

The base form is:

• eiginmaður = husband (nominative)

But in this sentence, husband is the direct object of sér (sees), so it changes form:

• hún sér eiginmann... = she sees [her] husband...

That is why the ending is -mann here instead of -maður.

This is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

sinn is a reflexive possessive, meaning his/her/their own, referring back to the subject of the same clause.

So in:

• þegar hún sér eiginmann sinn

the subject of that clause is hún (she), and sinn means her own. So the phrase means:

• when she sees her husband

If Icelandic used hans here, it would usually mean his husband, referring to some other male person, not back to hún.

So:

• sinn = refers back to the subject of its clause
• hans/hennar/þeirra = usually refers to someone else

Because sinn agrees with the thing possessed, not with the possessor.

Here, the possessor is hún (she), but the possessed noun is eiginmann (husband), which is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative

So the reflexive possessive must match eiginmann, giving:

• sinn

That is why Icelandic uses:

• sinn with masculine nouns
• sína with feminine nouns
• sitt with neuter nouns

So even though the owner is a woman, sinn is correct because eiginmann is masculine accusative singular.

Here við hurðina means something like:

• at the door
• by the door
• near the door

The preposition við often has this sense of being next to or by something.

So:

• við hurðina = by the door / at the door

In this sentence, it describes where she sees him.

Because við takes the accusative case, and the noun is definite.

Start with:

• hurð = door

Then:

• hurðina = the door in the accusative singular

So after við, Icelandic uses:

• við hurðina

This is not because there is motion toward the door in this sentence. It is simply the form required by the preposition við.

Because þegar introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Icelandic normally have more straightforward subject-verb order.

So:

• þegar hún sér... = when she sees...

In main clauses, Icelandic often follows the verb-second pattern, but subordinate clauses do not behave the same way.

Compare the idea:

• Main clause: word order can be more tightly controlled by verb-second rules
• Subordinate clause after þegar: subject + verb is normal

So þegar hún sér is exactly what you would expect.

þegar means when here and introduces a time clause.

So the structure is:

• Eiginkona hans brosir alltaf = His wife always smiles
• þegar hún sér eiginmann sinn við hurðina = when she sees her husband at the door

Together, the second part explains when she smiles.

alltaf means always, and its position here is very natural in Icelandic.

• Eiginkona hans brosir alltaf...

A common place for adverbs like alltaf is after the finite verb in a simple main clause.

So this order feels natural:

• subject + verb + adverb

It can sometimes move for emphasis or style, but the placement here is standard and idiomatic.

The sentence has a main clause plus a subordinate clause:

Main clause:

• Eiginkona hans brosir alltaf
• His wife always smiles

Subordinate clause:

• þegar hún sér eiginmann sinn við hurðina
• when she sees her husband at the door

So the full pattern is:

• [Main clause] + [when-clause]

This is a very common Icelandic sentence structure, and it works much like English, even though some of the details, such as word order and possessives, are different.