Ég ætla að láta skósmiðinn laga hælinn á skónum mínum.

Ætla að + infinitive expresses intention or a planned future action. In this sentence, Ég ætla að... means something like I’m going to... or I intend to....

So Ég ætla að láta... is not just a simple present tense; it tells you the speaker has a plan.

Because Icelandic is using a causative structure:

láta + someone + infinitive

This means to have/get someone do something.

So here:

• láta = have / get
• skósmiðinn = the shoemaker / cobbler
• laga = repair / fix

Together, láta skósmiðinn laga... means have the shoemaker repair...

Not really, at least not in the usual English sense of giving permission.

Láta can mean different things depending on the structure. In this sentence, it does not mean let as in allow. It means something more like:

• have
• get
• sometimes make

So the idea is I’m going to have the shoemaker fix it, not I’m going to let the shoemaker fix it.

Because the two verbs behave differently.

• ætla normally takes að + infinitive

  • ætla að fara
  • ætla að læra
  • ætla að láta

• láta in this causative pattern takes a bare infinitive

  • láta einhvern gera eitthvað
  • láta skósmiðinn laga hælinn

So:

• ætla að láta
• but láta skósmiðinn laga, not láta skósmiðinn að laga

Because skósmiðinn is in the accusative case, not the nominative.

The basic noun is skósmiður = shoemaker / cobbler.

Its definite singular forms include:

• nominative: skósmiðurinn = the shoemaker
• accusative: skósmiðinn

Here, the shoemaker is the object of láta in the pattern láta einhvern gera eitthvað. That is why Icelandic uses the accusative form skósmiðinn.

For the same basic reason: case.

The noun is hæll = heel.

• nominative definite singular: hællinn
• accusative definite singular: hælinn

In this sentence, hælinn is the direct object of laga: it is the thing being repaired. So Icelandic uses the accusative form hælinn.

This is the natural Icelandic way to express the heel on my shoes.

Literally, á skónum mínum means on my shoes. Icelandic often uses á for something physically attached to something else, where English might prefer of:

• hurðin á bílnum = the door of the car
• hjólið á hjólinu = the wheel on the bicycle
• hælinn á skónum mínum = the heel of/on my shoes

So this is very idiomatic Icelandic.

Because the preposition á can take different cases depending on meaning.

• á + accusative usually suggests motion toward something
• á + dative usually suggests location or a fixed relation

Here there is no motion. The heel is simply on the shoes, so Icelandic uses á + dative:

• á skónum mínum

That makes skónum dative plural.

Because in Icelandic, a noun with a possessive pronoun after it is very often still definite.

So:

• skónum mínum = my shoes
• bókin mín = my book
• húsið mitt = my house

This is normal Icelandic structure. English does not combine the and my, but Icelandic often does when the possessive comes after the noun.

If the possessive comes before the noun, the structure changes:

• mínir skór = my shoes

But in ordinary neutral usage, skónum mínum is very natural here.

Because the sentence, as written, refers to one heel.

That could mean:

• one shoe’s heel is damaged, or
• the speaker is talking about a single heel as the specific part needing repair

If you wanted to say the heels in the plural, you would use a plural form such as hælana.

So the grammar here is completely literal: singular heel, plural shoes.

Yes. If you do not need to mention who will do the repair, Icelandic often leaves the worker unstated:

Ég ætla að láta laga hælinn á skónum mínum.

That means I’m going to have the heel of my shoes repaired.

The original sentence is more specific because it names the person doing the work.

Yes:

• Ég — I; nominative singular subject
• ætla — intend / am going to; 1st person singular present
• að — infinitive marker used with ætla
• láta — have / get / make in this causative structure
• skósmiðinn — the shoemaker / cobbler; accusative singular definite
• laga — repair / fix; bare infinitive after láta
• hælinn — the heel; accusative singular definite
• á — on
• skónum — the shoes; dative plural definite
• mínum — my; dative plural, agreeing with skónum

So the overall pattern is:

subject + intention + causative verb + person + action + thing + prepositional phrase