Við leikum feluleik í garðinum á kvöldin.

Leikum is the 1st person plural present form of the verb leika (to play).

Icelandic verbs change form depending on the subject:

• ég leik = I play
• þú leikur = you play
• hann/hún/það leikur = he/she/it plays
• við leikum = we play
• þið leikið = you all play
• þeir/þær/þau leika = they play

So because við means we, the verb has to be leikum.

Feluleik is the accusative singular of feluleikur, which means hide-and-seek.

It is a compound noun:

• fela = to hide
• leikur = game, play

So feluleikur literally means something like hiding game.

In the sentence, it is the direct object of leikum, so it appears in the accusative: feluleik.

Icelandic does not have an indefinite article like English a/an.

So:

• við leikum feluleik = we play hide-and-seek / we play a game of hide-and-seek

If you want the, Icelandic usually adds it to the end of the noun:

• feluleikinn = the hide-and-seek game

So the lack of a separate word for a is completely normal.

Because í can take different cases depending on meaning.

• í + dative = in a place, inside it, with no movement into it
• í + accusative = into a place, movement toward/into it

Here the meaning is in the garden, as a location, so Icelandic uses the dative:

• í garðinum = in the garden

Compare:

• Við leikum í garðinum. = We play in the garden.
• Við hlaupum í garðinn. = We run into the garden.

It shows both case and definiteness.

The base noun is:

• garður = garden

Some definite forms are:

• garðurinn = the garden (nominative)
• garðinn = the garden (accusative)
• garðinum = the garden (dative)

So in í garðinum, the ending tells you this is the garden in the dative case.

Á kvöldin is a very common Icelandic time expression meaning in the evenings or at night regularly.

It is used for something that happens habitually or repeatedly.

So:

• á kvöldin = in the evenings
• á morgnana = in the mornings

This is not just a literal word-for-word match with English; it is an idiomatic Icelandic pattern that learners should memorize as a set expression.

Because á kvöldin means in the evenings, not just in the evening one time.

The plural gives the idea of repetition:

• kvöld = evening
• kvöldin = the evenings

In this kind of time expression, the definite plural is very natural in Icelandic. English does something similar with in the evenings.

This is mainly because Icelandic time expressions often use prepositions in ways that do not match English exactly.

Here, á kvöldin is simply the standard expression for in the evenings. It is best learned as a chunk.

A few useful comparisons:

• á kvöldin = in the evenings
• í kvöld = tonight
• á morgnana = in the mornings

So this is less about literal logic and more about normal Icelandic usage.

Yes. The sentence as given has a straightforward order:

• Við leikum feluleik í garðinum á kvöldin.

But Icelandic often moves time or place expressions to the front for emphasis. For example:

• Á kvöldin leikum við feluleik í garðinum.

That still means the same thing.

A useful rule to know is that Icelandic is a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually stays in the second position in main clauses. So if á kvöldin comes first, leikum still comes next.

Because leika is the natural verb for children’s play and for games like hide-and-seek.

Very roughly:

• leika = play, especially in the sense of playing around or playing a game like a child
• spila = play a musical instrument, or play certain games/sports

So:

• leika feluleik = play hide-and-seek

That is the idiomatic choice.

Yes. Við can be:

• the pronoun we
• a preposition with meanings like against, by, or with in some contexts

But here it is clearly the pronoun we, because it is the subject of the sentence and matches the verb leikum.

So in this sentence:

• Við leikum ... = We play ...

A rough English-friendly approximation is:

vith LAY-kum FEH-lu-lake ee GAR-thi-num ow KVÖLD-in

A few notes:

• ð in við and garðinum is like the th in this, though it can sound softer in real speech.
• ei in leikum sounds like ay in say.
• ö in kvöldin does not have an exact English equivalent; it is somewhat like the vowel in French peur or German ö.

This approximation is not perfect, but it can help you get started.