Hún leggur hreint koddaver á stólinn og setur sængurverið á sængina.

Icelandic often chooses a more specific verb where English uses a general one.

• leggja often means to lay something down, especially something soft, flat, or horizontal.
• setja means to put / place / set, and is more general.

So in this sentence:

• Hún leggur hreint koddaver á stólinn suggests she lays a clean pillowcase on the chair.
• og setur sængurverið á sængina suggests she puts the duvet cover onto the duvet.

In many contexts, both can be translated simply as puts, but the Icelandic verbs still carry slightly different physical senses.

Because hreint has to agree with koddaver.

Koddaver is:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative here

So the adjective must also be:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative

That gives hreint.

A useful way to think of it:

• hreinn = masculine singular
• hrein = feminine singular
• hreint = neuter singular

Since koddaver is neuter, hreint koddaver is the correct match.

You usually learn the gender along with the noun. In this case, koddaver is a neuter noun.

There are some clues in Icelandic, but they are not perfectly reliable. A lot of neuter nouns have no ending in the singular nominative, and koddaver fits that pattern, but the safest method is still to memorize the gender when you learn the word.

A good habit is to learn nouns like this:

• koddaver — neuter
• stóll — masculine
• sæng — feminine
• sængurver — neuter

That makes agreement and case endings much easier later.

Because Icelandic marks definiteness directly on the noun, and the speaker is choosing one as a pillowcase and the other as the duvet cover.

• koddaver = a pillowcase
• sængurverið = the duvet cover

The definite article in Icelandic is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• sængurver = duvet cover
• sængurverið = the duvet cover

This difference is not a grammar rule forced by the sentence structure; it is a meaning choice. The speaker is presenting one item as indefinite and the other as definite.

That is how the normal definite article works in Icelandic. Instead of a separate word like English the, Icelandic usually adds the article as a suffix.

Examples from the sentence:

• stóll = chair

• stólinn = the chair

• sæng = duvet / quilt

• sængina = the duvet

• sængurver = duvet cover
• sængurverið = the duvet cover

So when you see endings like -inn, -ina, or -ið, that is often the noun plus the definite article.

Because they follow á in a context of movement toward a place.

In Icelandic, some prepositions can take different cases depending on meaning. With á:

• accusative often means onto / to a position on
• dative often means on / in a fixed position

Here there is movement:

• she lays the pillowcase onto the chair
• she puts the duvet cover onto the duvet

So Icelandic uses the accusative:

• á stólinn
• á sængina

That would change the meaning from movement to location.

Compare:

• á stólinn = onto the chair / to the chair as a destination
• á stólnum = on the chair / already located on the chair

So:

• Hún leggur koddaver á stólinn = she lays a pillowcase onto the chair
• Koddaverið er á stólnum = the pillowcase is on the chair

This movement-versus-location distinction is very important with prepositions like á, í, and others.

Here are the basic forms you would usually look up:

• hún = she
• leggur → dictionary form leggja = to lay, put
• hreint → dictionary form hreinn = clean
• koddaver = pillowcase
• á = on, onto
• stólinn → dictionary form stóll = chair
• og = and
• setur → dictionary form setja = to put, place
• sængurverið → dictionary form sængurver = duvet cover
• sængina → dictionary form sæng = duvet, quilt

When learning Icelandic, always try to identify the dictionary form behind the inflected form you see in the sentence.

Both are present tense, third person singular.

That matches the subject hún = she.

So:

• ég legg / set = I lay / put
• þú leggur / setur = you lay / put
• hún leggur / setur = she lays / puts

In this sentence:

• Hún leggur ...
• og setur ...

Both verbs agree with the singular subject hún.

Because that is the normal position for attributive adjectives in Icelandic: they usually come before the noun, just like in English.

So:

• hreint koddaver = a clean pillowcase

This is the standard pattern:

• adjective + noun

You can also have predicative use with a verb:

• Koddaverið er hreint = the pillowcase is clean

But inside the noun phrase itself, the normal order is hreint koddaver.

It is a compound noun plus the definite article.

Break it down like this:

• sængurver = duvet cover
• -ið = the definite article for a neuter singular noun here

So:

• sængurver = duvet cover
• sængurverið = the duvet cover

The compound itself contains sængur- plus ver. You do not need to analyze every compound historically in order to use it correctly; for learners, it is usually best to memorize sængurver as a whole vocabulary item.

Normally, yes, hún is needed.

Unlike some languages, Icelandic usually does not drop the subject pronoun in ordinary sentences. So if you want to say she lays... and puts..., you normally include hún.

That means:

• Hún leggur ... og setur ... is the normal full sentence.

You might omit a subject only in special contexts, such as diary style, commands, or certain informal fragments, but not in a standard sentence like this.

Because that is the normal Icelandic pattern with these verbs:

• verb + direct object + prepositional phrase

So:

• leggur hreint koddaver á stólinn
• setur sængurverið á sængina

This is very similar to English:

• puts a clean pillowcase on the chair
• puts the duvet cover on the duvet

Icelandic word order can be flexible for emphasis, but the version in the sentence is the most straightforward and natural.

In practice, yes, these common -ver words are neuter, and it is helpful to notice that pattern.

For example:

• koddaver — neuter
• sængurver — neuter

But as always in Icelandic, the safest strategy is to learn each noun together with its gender, because patterns have exceptions elsewhere in the language.

In this sentence, their neuter gender matters because it affects agreement and the definite form:

• hreint koddaver
• sængurverið

Because the noun phrase is indefinite.

In hreint koddaver, the meaning is a clean pillowcase, not the clean pillowcase. So the adjective uses the indefinite/strong form.

If the whole phrase were definite, the adjective would normally change too. Icelandic distinguishes between strong and weak adjective forms depending on definiteness and structure.

So here:

• hreint koddaver = indefinite phrase

That is why you do not see a definite-style adjective form there.