Við skruppum í bakaríið eftir vinnu.

Skruppum is the past tense, 1st person plural form of skreppa.

In this sentence, it means something like we popped over, we nipped, or we made a quick trip. It usually suggests a short, casual trip somewhere, not a long or formal journey.

So compared with fórum from fara (went), skruppum adds the idea that it was quick or just a small errand.

The infinitive is skreppa.

This is an irregular verb, so the vowel changes in the past tense:

• skreppa = to pop out / make a quick trip
• við skruppum = we popped out / we went quickly

That vowel change is normal for many strong verbs in Icelandic.

Yes, skruppum already tells you the subject is we, because the ending marks 1st person plural.

However, Icelandic normally still uses the subject pronoun in ordinary sentences. So Við skruppum... is the normal full form.

English learners sometimes expect Icelandic to drop subject pronouns like Spanish or Italian, but usually it does not.

Icelandic often uses a preposition where English might just say to.

Here, í literally means in / into, but with verbs of movement it often corresponds to English to:

• fara í skólann = go to school
• skreppa í bakaríið = pop to the bakery

So í bakaríið is the normal way to say to the bakery here.

Because í can take either the accusative or the dative, depending on meaning:

• accusative for movement into/toward something
• dative for being in a place

Here there is movement: they went to the bakery. So Icelandic uses the accusative:

• í bakaríið = to/into the bakery

If you were talking about being inside the bakery, you would use the dative:

• í bakaríinu = in the bakery

That -ið is the definite article attached to the noun. Icelandic usually puts the at the end of the word instead of as a separate word.

So:

• bakarí = a bakery
• bakaríið = the bakery

Since bakarí is a neuter noun, the definite nominative/accusative singular form is bakaríið.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• í bakaríið = to the bakery, probably a specific one known in the context
• í bakarí = to a bakery / to the bakery in a more general or indefinite sense

In real speech, the definite form is very common when people mean a specific bakery they have in mind.

Vinnu is dative singular of vinna (work).

It is dative because the preposition eftir takes the dative when it means after in time:

• eftir vinnu = after work
• eftir mat = after food / after the meal

So the form vinnu is there because of the preposition eftir.

Because eftir requires the dative case, and the dative singular of vinna is vinnu.

The basic form is:

• vinna = work

But after eftir, it changes:

• eftir vinnu = after work

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic: prepositions often control a specific case.

Eftir vinnu usually means after work in a general sense, like English after work.

When Icelandic talks about routine activities, institutions, or general situations, it often leaves out the article. So eftir vinnu sounds natural for the everyday idea of finishing work.

You could say eftir vinnuna, but that sounds more specifically like after the work or after the shift/job/task in question. It is more definite and context-specific.

This is a normal, neutral Icelandic word order for a main clause:

• Við = subject
• skruppum = verb
• í bakaríið = place/destination
• eftir vinnu = time

A very important thing in Icelandic is that main clauses usually follow a verb-second pattern. In this sentence, the subject comes first, so the verb comes second.

You could also front the time phrase:

• Eftir vinnu skruppum við í bakaríið.

That is also correct, and then skruppum still stays in second position.

Yes, literally it is closer to into the bakery, because í with the accusative often has that directional sense.

But in English, we usually translate it more naturally as to the bakery. Icelandic often uses í where English would use to for places you go into.

So the literal structure and the natural English translation are slightly different.

Yes, that would also be correct.

The difference is nuance:

• Við fórum í bakaríið eftir vinnu. = We went to the bakery after work.
• Við skruppum í bakaríið eftir vinnu. = We popped to the bakery after work / We made a quick trip to the bakery after work.

So skruppum sounds a bit more casual and suggests the trip was short.