Húsfélagið hittist í anddyrinu klukkan sjö og fundurinn tekur um fjörutíu mínútur.

Húsfélagið is a compound noun, which is very common in Icelandic.

It is made up of:

• hús = house, building
• félag = association, society, group
• -ið = the (the definite article attached to the end)

So húsfélagið means something like:

• the building association
• the residents’ association
• the homeowners’/apartment owners’ association

Exactly how you translate it depends on context, but it refers to the organized group connected to the building.

Icelandic often prefers one compound word where English uses several words.

The ending -ið is the definite article, meaning the.

In Icelandic, the is usually not a separate word. Instead, it is attached to the noun.

So:

• húsfélag = a building association / building residents’ association
• húsfélagið = the building association

This is one of the first big differences English speakers notice in Icelandic.

Hittist is the -st form of the verb hitta.

• hitta = to meet, to find, to hit/encounter depending on context
• hittast = to meet each other, to get together

In this sentence, Húsfélagið hittist means the members of the association meet or get together.

So this is not just someone meets something. It has a more reciprocal sense: the people in the group are meeting one another.

A useful comparison:

• Ég hitti Jón. = I meet / met Jón.
• Við hittumst. = We meet / met each other.

The -st ending often creates a middle or reflexive/reciprocal meaning.

In practice, it can mean things like:

• doing something to oneself
• something happening by itself
• people doing something to each other

In this sentence, hittist is best understood as meet each other / gather.

For learners, it is often easiest to memorize hittast as its own verb meaning to meet.

Because anddyrinu means in the entrance hall / in the lobby, with the noun in the definite form: the entrance hall.

Breakdown:

• anddyri = entrance hall, lobby
• anddyrið = the entrance hall
• í anddyrinu = in the entrance hall

The form anddyrinu is used because after í when it means in a place (location, not movement into), Icelandic uses the dative.

So:

• í anddyri = in an entrance hall
• í anddyrinu = in the entrance hall

The preposition í can take different cases depending on meaning.

A very common rule is:

• í + accusative = motion into
• í + dative = location in

Here, the sentence describes where the meeting happens, not movement into the place, so it uses dative:

• í anddyrinu = in the lobby / in the entrance hall

Compare:

• Þau ganga í anddyrið. = They walk into the lobby.
• Þau eru í anddyrinu. = They are in the lobby.

Yes, literally klukkan means the clock, but in Icelandic this is a normal way to tell time.

• klukka = clock
• klukkan = the clock

So klukkan sjö literally looks like the clock seven, but it simply means at seven o’clock.

This is a fixed and very common expression in Icelandic.

You will often see:

• klukkan eitt = at one o’clock
• klukkan þrjú = at three o’clock
• klukkan sjö = at seven o’clock

In English, we say at seven o’clock, but Icelandic usually just says klukkan sjö without a separate preposition.

So you should learn it as a time expression in its own right.

In other words:

• English: at seven
• Icelandic: klukkan sjö

You do not need to insert a separate word corresponding to at here.

Og simply means and. It joins two clauses:

1. Húsfélagið hittist í anddyrinu klukkan sjö
2. fundurinn tekur um fjörutíu mínútur

Each clause has its own subject:

• Húsfélagið = the building association
• fundurinn = the meeting

The word order here is straightforward and neutral:

• subject + verb + other information

Icelandic can have more flexible word order than English, but this sentence uses a very standard pattern.

Again, this is the definite article attached to the noun.

• fundur = a meeting
• fundurinn = the meeting

So fundurinn tekur um fjörutíu mínútur means the meeting takes about forty minutes.

The ending -inn is a common definite ending for masculine nouns.

The verb taka has several meanings, just like English take.

One common use is for duration:

• Fundurinn tekur fjörutíu mínútur. = The meeting takes forty minutes.

So this works very much like English.

Here:

• tekur = takes
• um fjörutíu mínútur = about forty minutes

Yes, um has several meanings. Here it means about / approximately.

So:

• um fjörutíu mínútur = about forty minutes

This is a very common use with numbers and amounts.

Compare:

• um tíu manns = about ten people
• um klukkutíma = about an hour

So in this sentence, um is not about in the sense of regarding a topic. It means approximately.

Yes, numbers can affect case and sometimes form, but in this sentence the important thing is that mínútur is the plural of mínúta.

• mínúta = minute
• mínútur = minutes

Here, fjörutíu mínútur means forty minutes.

Because this phrase is the object of tekur, it is functioning as the thing being taken in terms of duration. For a beginner, the safest approach is simply to learn the whole phrase:

• tekur um fjörutíu mínútur = takes about forty minutes

Yes, anddyri is a neuter noun.

One clue is its dictionary form ending in -i, though that alone is not a universal rule. More importantly, you can see the neuter definite forms:

• anddyrið = the entrance hall
• anddyrinu = in the entrance hall

The ending -inu in anddyrinu is a very common dative singular definite ending for neuter nouns.

Yes. Icelandic often uses a collective noun as the subject, just as English does.

So Húsfélagið hittist means the association, understood as the people belonging to it, is meeting.

English does this too:

• The committee meets at seven.
• The association gathers in the lobby.

So although the word names the organization, it naturally refers to the people involved.

A good way is:

• Húsfélagið
• hittist í anddyrinu
• klukkan sjö
• og
• fundurinn tekur
• um fjörutíu mínútur

This helps you see the structure:

• subject
• verb + place
• time
• connector
• new subject + verb
• duration

Chunking Icelandic sentences like this makes them much easier to read.