Ég skolaði sigtið og byrjaði svo að hnoða deigið aftur.

Sigti can cover several very similar things in English: sieve, strainer, or sifter. The exact best translation depends on context.

• in baking, sifter/sieve
• in the kitchen sink, often strainer
• more generally, something used to separate solids from finer material or liquid

So sigtið means the sieve/strainer/sifter.

That -ið is the definite article attached to the end of the noun. Icelandic often says the by adding an ending, instead of using a separate word.

So:

• sigti = a sieve / sieve
• sigtið = the sieve

and

• deig = dough
• deigið = the dough

Both of these nouns are neuter singular, and -ið is the normal definite ending here.

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article onto the noun itself.

Compare:

• English: the dough
• Icelandic: deigið

This is very normal in Icelandic. You learn the noun first in its basic form, then add the definite ending when needed.

They are functioning as direct objects, so they are in the accusative case.

• Ég skolaði sigtið = I rinsed the sieve
• að hnoða deigið = to knead the dough

A useful thing to know: for many neuter singular nouns, the nominative and accusative forms look the same. So even though these are accusative here, you do not see a different ending from the nominative.

They are in the past tense.

• að skola = to rinse

• ég skolaði = I rinsed

• að byrja = to begin / to start
• ég byrjaði = I began / I started

These are regular weak verbs, and -ði is a very common past-tense ending.

Because byrja is followed by an infinitive, and that infinitive normally uses að.

So:

• byrja að gera eitthvað = to start doing something
• byrja að hnoða = to start kneading

Here:

• hnoða = to knead
• að hnoða = to knead

So byrjaði svo að hnoða means then started to knead.

Because hnoða is an infinitive here, not the main finite verb.

The actual past-tense verb is byrjaði. After that comes the infinitive phrase:

• byrjaði að hnoða = started to knead

So only byrjaði shows tense. Hnoða stays in its dictionary form.

Because the subject is still the same: I.

Icelandic often leaves out the repeated subject in coordinated clauses when it is obvious:

• Ég skolaði sigtið og byrjaði svo að hnoða deigið aftur.

This means:

• I rinsed the sieve and then started kneading the dough again.

You could also say:

• Ég skolaði sigtið og ég byrjaði svo að hnoða deigið aftur.

But that sounds more repetitive. The version without the second ég is very natural.

Here svo means then or after that.

It connects the two actions in sequence:

1. Ég skolaði sigtið = I rinsed the sieve
2. og byrjaði svo að hnoða deigið aftur = and then started kneading the dough again

So svo is showing what happened next.

Aftur usually means again or back, depending on context.

In this sentence it means again:

• að hnoða deigið aftur = to knead the dough again

So the idea is that the speaker resumed or repeated the kneading.

In practice, it most naturally goes with the kneading idea:

• started kneading the dough again

That is, the kneading is being repeated.

Depending on context, English can also feel slightly ambiguous here, and Icelandic can sometimes work similarly. But the most natural reading is that the person is kneading the dough again, not simply “starting again” in some broader sense.

Yes, a little. Icelandic allows some movement, especially with adverbs like svo, but the structure of the clause still matters.

For example, you could also say:

• Ég skolaði sigtið og svo byrjaði ég að hnoða deigið aftur.

That also means essentially the same thing.

The original version is natural because:

• the first clause gives the subject ég
• the second clause keeps the same subject without repeating it
• svo is placed after byrjaði

So the original sentence is perfectly normal.

The letter ð is usually pronounced like the th in this, not like an English d.

So roughly:

• skolaði → sko-la-thi (with voiced th)
• byrjaði → bir-ya-thi
• deigið → something like day-yith / day-ith

The exact sound is often quite soft in everyday speech, especially in endings.

You would usually look up the basic indefinite singular form for nouns and the infinitive for verbs:

• sigti → dictionary form of sigtið
• deig → dictionary form of deigið
• skola → dictionary form of skolaði
• byrja → dictionary form of byrjaði
• hnoða → already in dictionary form

That is a very useful habit in Icelandic, because endings change a lot.