Skóflan er í hjólbörunum við hliðina á garðslöngunni.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being written as a separate word.

So here you get forms like:

• skófla → skóflan = the shovel
• hjólbörur → hjólbörunum = the wheelbarrow / the wheelbarrows in this case form
• garðslanga → garðslöngunni = the garden hose

This is very normal in Icelandic. English uses a separate word, but Icelandic usually uses a suffix.

Skóflan is the definite form of skófla.

• skófla = shovel
• skóflan = the shovel

Grammatically, skóflan is nominative singular definite, because it is the subject of the sentence.

Because hjólbörur is a plural-only noun in Icelandic. Even when English uses a singular word, Icelandic often uses this plural form.

So:

• hjólbörur is the normal dictionary form
• hjólbörunum is the dative plural definite form

Even though the form is grammatically plural, the meaning in English is often just the wheelbarrow.

This is similar to how English has words like scissors or pants, which are grammatically plural even when they refer to one item.

The preposition í can take different cases depending on meaning:

• dative for location = being in something
• accusative for motion into something

Here, the shovel is already located in the wheelbarrow, so Icelandic uses the dative:

• í hjólbörunum = in the wheelbarrow

If the meaning were movement into the wheelbarrow, you would expect accusative instead:

• setti skófluna í hjólbörurnar = put the shovel into the wheelbarrow

So this is a very important Icelandic pattern:

• location → dative
• motion/direction → accusative

Við hliðina á is a fixed expression meaning next to or beside.

You can think of it roughly as:

• við = by / at
• hliðina = the side
• á
  • noun = next to/of that noun

So:

• við hliðina á garðslöngunni = next to the garden hose

It is best learned as one chunk: við hliðina á.

The base word is garðslanga, meaning garden hose.

It is a compound:

• garður = garden
• slanga = hose

In this sentence, it appears as garðslöngunni, which is dative singular definite.

That happens because the expression við hliðina á requires á followed by the dative here.

So:

• garðslanga = garden hose
• garðslöngunni = the garden hose, in dative singular

In the expression við hliðina á, the word hliðina is the form required after við in this set phrase.

So even though learners often understand the whole phrase simply as next to, grammatically it is built from a noun meaning side plus prepositions.

The important practical point is:

• learn við hliðina á as a whole expression
• then use a dative noun after á

For example:

• við hliðina á húsinu = next to the house
• við hliðina á bílnum = next to the car
• við hliðina á garðslöngunni = next to the garden hose

The most natural reading is that it describes hjólbörunum.

So the structure is most naturally understood as:

• the shovel is in the wheelbarrow
• and that wheelbarrow is next to the garden hose

This kind of phrase can sometimes be ambiguous in both Icelandic and English, but here the default reading is that the wheelbarrow is next to the hose.

Yes, Icelandic word order is somewhat flexible, but the language still follows the verb-second rule in main clauses.

The neutral order here is:

• Skóflan er í hjólbörunum við hliðina á garðslöngunni.

If you want to emphasize the location, you could move that part first:

• Í hjólbörunum við hliðina á garðslöngunni er skóflan.

Notice that er still stays in the second position of the clause.

So word order can change for emphasis, but not completely freely.

Here are the key nouns:

• skófla — feminine
• hjólbörur — feminine plural-only noun
• garðslanga — feminine

And their forms in this sentence are:

• skóflan — nominative singular definite
• hjólbörunum — dative plural definite
• garðslöngunni — dative singular definite

Knowing the dictionary form is very useful, because Icelandic endings change a lot depending on case, number, and definiteness.