Settu brauðið á skurðarbrettið áður en þú skerð það.

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Breakdown of Settu brauðið á skurðarbrettið áður en þú skerð það.

• það: it
• setja: to put
• á: on

Questions & Answers about Settu brauðið á skurðarbrettið áður en þú skerð það.

What form is settu?

Settu is the singular imperative of setja (to put / place / set).

So in this sentence, settu means put! when speaking to one person.

A few useful related forms:

• að setja = to put
• ég set = I put / am putting
• þú setur = you put / are putting
• settu! = put! (to one person)
• setjið! = put! (to more than one person)

So the sentence is giving an instruction.

Why does brauðið end in -ið?

The ending -ið is the suffixed definite article, which is how Icelandic usually says the.

• brauð = bread
• brauðið = the bread

Icelandic normally attaches the to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front of it.

Here brauðið is the direct object of settu, but for this noun the nominative and accusative singular forms are the same, so it still appears as brauðið.

Why is it á skurðarbrettið and not á skurðarbrettinu?