Hún sendi mér hlekk á hlaðvarp um íslensku, og við hlustuðum á fyrsta þáttinn saman í gærkvöldi.

Because senda (to send) usually takes:

• a subject in the nominative: hún = she
• an indirect object in the dative: mér = to me
• a direct object in the accusative: hlekk = a link

So Hún sendi mér hlekk literally means She sent me a link.

The forms here are:

• ég = I (subject form)
• mig = me (accusative)
• mér = to me / me after verbs that require the dative

With senda, the recipient is very often in the dative, so mér is the correct form.

The dictionary form is hlekkur (link), but here it is the direct object of sendi, so it appears in the accusative singular:

• nominative: hlekkur
• accusative: hlekk

This is very common with masculine nouns in Icelandic: the -ur often disappears in some forms.

So:

• hlekkur = a link as a subject
• hlekk = a link as a direct object

Here á means something like to in English: a link to a podcast.

So:

• hlekkur á ... = a link to ...

This is just the normal preposition used with hlekkur in this meaning.

Do not confuse this with the later hlusta á, where á belongs to the verb and means listen to. The sentence contains two different uses of á:

1. hlekk á hlaðvarp = a link to a podcast
2. hlustuðum á fyrsta þáttinn = we listened to the first episode

Because the preposition um takes the accusative case.

The word íslenska (Icelandic, the language) is a feminine noun, and in the accusative singular it becomes íslensku.

So:

• nominative: íslenska
• accusative: íslensku

That is why you get:

• um íslensku = about Icelandic

Hlaðvarp means podcast.

It is a neuter noun. In this sentence it appears after á in the expression hlekk á hlaðvarp.

You may also see:

• hlusta á hlaðvarp = listen to a podcast
• hlaðvarpið = the podcast

So the first half of the sentence says she sent a link to a podcast about Icelandic.

Hlustuðum is the 1st person plural past tense of hlusta (to listen).

The subject is við = we, so the verb must match that:

• ég hlustaði = I listened
• þú hlustaðir = you listened
• við hlustuðum = we listened

So:

• við hlustuðum = we listened

This is why the ending is different from sendi, which is singular and goes with hún.

Because hlusta normally takes the preposition á when you say what you are listening to.

So:

• hlusta á tónlist = listen to music
• hlusta á útvarpið = listen to the radio
• hlusta á fyrsta þáttinn = listen to the first episode

For an English speaker, it helps to learn hlusta á as a unit, almost like a fixed expression meaning listen to.

Because this phrase is the direct object of hlustuðum á, so it is in the accusative. Also, it is definite: the first episode.

Let’s break it down:

• þáttur = episode (dictionary form, nominative)
• þáttinn = the episode (accusative singular definite)

And:

• fyrsti þáttur = first episode as a subject
• fyrsta þáttinn = the first episode as an object

The adjective changes too. In Icelandic, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, case, and also often in definiteness.

So fyrsta þáttinn is the correct form for the first episode here.

Here þáttur means episode, as in an episode of a podcast, TV show, or radio program.

Some useful forms are:

• þáttur = episode (nominative singular)
• þáttinn = the episode (accusative singular definite)
• fyrsti þáttur = first episode
• fyrsta þáttinn = the first episode

So fyrsta þáttinn specifically means the first episode.

Saman means together.

In this sentence:

• við hlustuðum á fyrsta þáttinn saman = we listened to the first episode together

Its placement is very natural in Icelandic. Adverbs like saman often come after the object or near the end of the clause.

You could think of it as modifying the whole action: we listened together.

Because this expression uses the dative after í when talking about time in this sense.

So:

• í gærkvöldi = last night / yesterday evening

This is a fixed and very common time expression. Even if it feels a bit strange at first, it is best to learn í gærkvöldi as a whole phrase.

Similar time expressions in Icelandic often use prepositions plus a case form that does not match English word-for-word.

In normal Icelandic, subject pronouns are usually expressed, so við hlustuðum is the natural way to say we listened.

Unlike some languages, Icelandic does not usually drop the subject pronoun in ordinary sentences.

So yes, við is expected here.

Yes:

• Hún = she
• sendi = sent
• mér = to me / me
• hlekk = a link
• á hlaðvarp = to a podcast
• um íslensku = about Icelandic
• og = and
• við = we
• hlustuðum á = listened to
• fyrsta þáttinn = the first episode
• saman = together
• í gærkvöldi = last night / yesterday evening

That makes the structure much easier to see:

Hún sendi mér hlekk á hlaðvarp um íslensku, og við hlustuðum á fyrsta þáttinn saman í gærkvöldi.

This sentence is a good example of how important case is in Icelandic.

You can spot several:

• Hún — nominative subject
• mér — dative indirect object
• hlekk — accusative direct object
• um íslensku — accusative after um
• á fyrsta þáttinn — accusative after hlusta á
• í gærkvöldi — dative in a time expression

So even in one short sentence, Icelandic uses case to show the role of each word very clearly. This is one reason word forms change so much compared with English.