Ég set sultu á brauðið.

Set is the present-tense form of the verb setja, which means to put / to place.

So:

• setja = the infinitive, to put
• ég set = I put / I am putting

Icelandic verbs change form depending on the subject and tense, just like English changes to be into I am, you are, etc.

Here set means put or place.

So Ég set sultu á brauðið means something like:

• I put jam on the bread
• or I am putting jam on the bread

In Icelandic, the simple present can often cover both a habitual meaning (I put) and an ongoing meaning (I am putting), depending on context.

Because sulta changes form here.

The dictionary form is:

• sulta = jam

But in this sentence it is the direct object of the verb set, so it appears in the accusative singular:

• nominative: sulta
• accusative: sultu

This is very common in Icelandic: nouns change form depending on their role in the sentence.

Because sultu here means jam in a general or indefinite sense, not the jam.

So:

• sultu = jam
• sultuna = the jam

If you said Ég set sultuna á brauðið, that would mean I put the jam on the bread.

Á usually means on.

In this sentence, á brauðið means onto the bread / on the bread.

A key Icelandic grammar point is that some prepositions, including á, can take different cases depending on meaning:

• accusative for movement toward a place
• dative for location in a place

Here, the jam is being put onto the bread, so Icelandic uses the accusative:

• á brauðið

If you were describing where something already is, you would often get the dative instead:

• Sultan er á brauðinu = The jam is on the bread

Because brauðið means the bread.

The noun is:

• brauð = bread
• brauðið = the bread

In Icelandic, the definite article (the) is usually added to the end of the noun instead of standing as a separate word.

So:

• brauð = bread
• brauðið = the bread

The basic dictionary form is brauð, meaning bread.

It is a neuter noun. In this sentence, brauðið is the definite accusative singular form, but for this noun the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular with the article added:

• brauð = bread
• brauðið = the bread

So even though the case matters grammatically, the visible form here is still brauðið.

Yes, in this sentence the word order is very similar to English:

• Ég = I
• set = put
• sultu = jam
• á brauðið = on the bread

So the structure is basically:

subject + verb + object + prepositional phrase

That said, Icelandic word order can be more flexible than English because case endings help show what each word is doing.

Usually, yes.

Unlike some languages where the verb form alone can make the subject obvious and the pronoun is often dropped, Icelandic normally keeps the subject pronoun:

• Ég set sultu á brauðið.

So if you want to say I put jam on the bread, you would normally include Ég.

The infinitive is setja.

A few useful forms are:

• að setja = to put
• ég set = I put
• þú setur = you put
• hann/hún/það setur = he/she/it puts

So when you see set, you should recognize it as a form of setja.

Not always.

In this sentence it is physical: on the bread.

But á can also be used in many other ways in Icelandic, including time expressions and idiomatic phrases. Still, one of its core meanings is on / onto, and that is the meaning here.

For this exact meaning, it would usually sound wrong or at least less natural.

• Ég set sultu á brauðið = I put jam onto the bread
• Sultan er á brauðinu = The jam is on the bread

The first sentence involves movement or placement, so á takes the accusative: brauðið.

The second sentence describes location, so á takes the dative: brauðinu.

This accusative/dative contrast with á is an important pattern in Icelandic.

A rough guide is:

Ég set sultu á brauðið
≈ yeg set SUL-tu au BRÖY-thith

A few notes:

• Ég sounds roughly like yeg
• u in sultu is not like English oo; it is shorter and more central
• á is like ow in cow, but longer
• ð in brauðið is like the th in this
• au in brauð sounds roughly like öy / oy

This is only an approximation, but it can help you get started.