Fundurinn tekur hálftíma.

Fundurinn means the meeting, while fundur just means a meeting.

The ending -inn is the suffixed definite article in Icelandic. So:

• fundur = a meeting
• fundurinn = the meeting

That is why Fundurinn tekur hálftíma means The meeting takes half an hour.

Fundurinn is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.

The basic noun is fundur (a masculine noun), and its nominative singular definite form is:

• fundur = a meeting
• fundurinn = the meeting

Since the meeting is the thing doing the action in the sentence, nominative is used.

Yes, very often it does. The verb taka usually means to take, but it is also used in expressions of time, just like English:

• Það tekur langan tíma. = It takes a long time.
• Fundurinn tekur hálftíma. = The meeting takes half an hour.

In natural English, you might also translate this as The meeting lasts half an hour, but Icelandic commonly uses taka here.

Tekur is the 3rd person singular present tense of taka.

That form is used because the subject, fundurinn (the meeting), is singular.

A few present-tense forms of taka are:

• ég tek = I take
• þú tekur = you take
• hann/hún/það tekur = he/she/it takes

So fundurinn tekur literally means the meeting takes.

Because after taka in this meaning, the amount of time is normally in the accusative case.

The basic phrase is:

• hálfur tími = half an hour / half an hour as a subject-type form

But in this sentence, the duration functions like the object of the verb, so it changes to the accusative:

• hálftíma

So:

• Fundurinn tekur hálftíma. = The meeting takes half an hour.

This is a very common pattern in Icelandic with expressions of duration.

It is normally written as one word: hálftíma.

It comes from hálfur tími (half an hour), but in this kind of expression it is commonly written together in the accusative form.

You will often see time expressions written this way, especially when they behave like fixed units of duration.

Hálftími means half an hour, literally half-hour.

Its main forms are:

• hálftími = half an hour (nominative)
• hálftíma = half an hour (accusative)

So in the sentence:

• Fundurinn tekur hálftíma.

the meaning is The meeting takes half an hour.

Yes. That is a completely natural translation.

Hálftími and 30 minutes refer to the same length of time, so depending on context, you could translate it as:

• The meeting takes half an hour.
• The meeting lasts half an hour.
• The meeting takes 30 minutes.

All are good translations of the Icelandic sentence.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Fundurinn ≈ FUN-du-rin
• tekur ≈ TEH-kur
• hálftíma ≈ HAULF-tee-ma

A few helpful notes:

• u in Icelandic does not sound exactly like English u, but the rough guide above is good enough for a beginner.
• á is pronounced like ow in cow, but longer and clearer.
• í sounds like ee in see.

So the whole sentence is approximately:

FUN-du-rin TEH-kur HAULF-tee-ma

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Fundurinn tekur hálftíma. = The meeting takes half an hour.
• Fundur tekur hálftíma. = A meeting takes half an hour or Meeting takes half an hour, depending on context

So if you are talking about one specific meeting, fundurinn is the natural choice. If you mean meetings in general or an unspecified meeting, fundur may work better.

Yes, very much so.

This structure is common:

• [subject] + tekur + [amount of time in the accusative]

Examples:

• Tíminn tekur klukkutíma. = The class takes an hour.
• Ferðin tekur tvo daga. = The trip takes two days.
• Verkefnið tekur langan tíma. = The project takes a long time.

So Fundurinn tekur hálftíma is a very normal, useful sentence pattern to learn.