Henni fannst selleríið of sterkt, svo hún setti meira avókadó í salatið.

Because finnast is the normal Icelandic verb for saying that something seems or that someone finds/thinks something in a certain way.

So Henni fannst selleríið of sterkt means roughly:

• She found the celery too strong
• or more literally, To her, the celery seemed too strong

Hún fann would come from finna, which usually means find in the sense of physically finding something, or feel in some contexts. That is not the pattern being used here.

A very common phrase to memorize is:

• Mér finnst = I think / I find
• Mér fannst = I thought / I found

Because the verb finnast takes the experiencer in the dative case.

So in this sentence:

• henni = to her
• hún would be nominative, the usual subject form

Icelandic often uses cases in ways that do not match English. With finnast, you should learn the pattern as a whole:

• mér finnst = I think
• þér finnst = you think
• honum finnst = he thinks
• henni finnst = she thinks

So henni fannst is not strange or optional; it is the normal grammar.

Fannst is the past tense form used in this finnast pattern.

Here it means thought, found, or felt that something was in a certain way.

So:

• Henni finnst selleríið of sterkt = She thinks the celery is too strong
• Henni fannst selleríið of sterkt = She thought/found the celery was too strong

Later in the sentence, setti is also past tense:

• setti = put

So the whole sentence is talking about past events.

Because Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun.

So:

• sellerí = celery
• selleríið = the celery

The ending -ið here is the neuter singular definite ending.

The same thing happens later:

• salat = salad
• salatið = the salad

This is one of the most important differences from English: Icelandic often says the-noun as one word rather than using a separate word like the.

Because the adjective agrees with selleríið, which is neuter singular.

The base adjective is sterkur = strong. Its forms include:

• sterkur = masculine
• sterk = feminine
• sterkt = neuter

Since selleríið is neuter, the adjective becomes sterkt:

• selleríið var sterkt = the celery was strong
• selleríið of sterkt = the celery too strong

This kind of agreement is very common in Icelandic, so learners need to pay attention to the gender of nouns.

No. Icelandic of here means too, as in excessively.

So:

• of sterkt = too strong

It is not related in meaning to the English preposition of.

This is a very common learner trap because the word looks familiar but means something completely different.

Examples:

• of heitt = too hot
• of kalt = too cold
• of dýrt = too expensive

Because avókadó is being treated here as an amount or mass noun, not as a countable plural item.

Meira means more in a neuter singular/amount sense.

So:

• meira avókadó = more avocado

Compare that with fleiri, which is used for countable plural things:

• fleiri tómatar = more tomatoes
• meira smjör = more butter

Even though English can say an avocado / avocados, in this sentence the idea is more like more avocado as an ingredient.

Because the preposition í can take different cases depending on meaning:

• accusative for motion into
• dative for location in

Here, she is putting something into the salad, so Icelandic uses the accusative:

• í salatið = into the salad

If you were talking about something already located in the salad, you would use the dative:

• í salatinu = in the salad

This motion-vs-location distinction is very important with prepositions in Icelandic.

Here svo means so, therefore, or and so.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• she thought the celery was too strong,
• so she added more avocado

It is a very common everyday connector in Icelandic.

Because the second verb is different.

In hún setti meira avókadó í salatið, the verb is setja = to put, and here hún is the normal subject in the nominative case:

• hún setti = she put

So the sentence switches from:

• henni fannst = to her, it seemed / she thought

to:

• hún setti = she put

That change reflects the grammar of the two different verbs.

In a food sentence like this, sterkt usually means strong-tasting, intense, or sometimes even too sharp.

So selleríið of sterkt does not mean the celery is muscular or powerful. It means the flavor was too strong for her taste.

In food contexts, sterkur / sterk / sterkt is often used for flavor intensity, including spicy or sharp tastes depending on the food.