Kryddjurtirnar á svölunum eru ferskar í dag.

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

So:

• kryddjurtir = herbs
• kryddjurtirnar = the herbs

You can break kryddjurtirnar down like this:

• kryddjurt = herb
• -ir = plural ending
• -nar = definite article for this form

So the whole word means the herbs.

Kryddjurtirnar is nominative plural definite.

Why?

• It is the subject of the sentence, so nominative makes sense.
• The sentence is talking about more than one herb, so it is plural.
• It means the herbs, so it is definite.

The dictionary form is kryddjurt.

Because the subject is plural.

The subject is kryddjurtirnar = the herbs, so the verb vera (to be) must also be plural:

• er = is for singular
• eru = are for plural

So:

• Kryddjurtin er fersk. = The herb is fresh.
• Kryddjurtirnar eru ferskar. = The herbs are fresh.

Ferskar agrees with kryddjurtirnar.

Since kryddjurtirnar is:

• feminine
• plural
• nominative

the adjective also appears in the matching form:

• ferskur = masculine singular base form
• fersk = feminine singular
• ferskar = feminine plural

So ferskar means fresh in the form that matches the herbs.

This is a very common question.

In Icelandic, an adjective used after a verb like vera is a predicate adjective, and predicate adjectives normally use the strong forms, even if the noun is definite.

So you say:

• Kryddjurtirnar eru ferskar.

not a weak adjective form.

Compare this idea in English:

• the herbs are fresh

English also does not change fresh just because the herbs is definite. Icelandic does change the adjective for gender/number/case, but in this position it still uses the normal strong-type form.

Because á can take different cases depending on meaning.

Here it means location: the herbs are on / on the balcony, not moving there.
With static location, á takes the dative.

So:

• á svölum = on a balcony / on balconies
• á svölunum = on the balcony / on the balconies

The ending -unum shows dative plural definite.

Because svalir is a noun that is very often used in the plural in Icelandic, even when English uses singular balcony.

Its forms include:

• svalir = nominative plural
• svölum = dative plural
• svölunum = dative plural definite

So á svölunum is the normal Icelandic way to say on the balcony.

This is something you mostly just have to learn as part of the noun.

This happens because the noun changes form when declined.

The stem vowel changes:

• svalir
• svölum
• svölunum

That a → ö change is a normal kind of vowel change in Icelandic inflection.
So the word is not completely regular from an English learner’s point of view, but it follows common Icelandic patterns.

It is best to learn this noun together with a few key forms:

• svalir
• á svölum
• á svölunum

Í dag is a fixed expression meaning today.

Literally, it is something like in day, but you should learn it as a complete phrase.

• í = in
• dag = a case form of dagur (day)

So Icelandic often uses í dag where English simply says today.

Examples:

• Ég vinn í dag. = I’m working today.
• Veðrið er gott í dag. = The weather is good today.

Yes, Icelandic word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions and prepositional phrases.

The sentence as given is very natural:

• Kryddjurtirnar á svölunum eru ferskar í dag.

But you could also say:

• Í dag eru kryddjurtirnar á svölunum ferskar.

That puts more emphasis on today.

You could also hear other variations depending on focus, but the original version is a straightforward neutral sentence.

In this sentence, á svölunum most naturally describes kryddjurtirnar:

• the herbs on the balcony

So the structure is basically:

• Kryddjurtirnar á svölunum = The herbs on the balcony
• eru ferskar í dag = are fresh today

This is similar to English, where on the balcony tells you which herbs we are talking about.

Here are the main dictionary forms:

• kryddjurtirnar → kryddjurt = herb
• svölunum → svalir = balcony / balconies
• eru → vera = to be
• ferskar → ferskur = fresh
• dag in í dag → dagur = day

Looking words up by their dictionary forms is important in Icelandic, because the forms in a sentence are often inflected quite a lot.