Ég get ekki munað verðið, en ég giska á tuttugu þúsund.

Get is the 1st person singular present of geta, which means can / be able to.

So ég get = I can.

In this sentence, Ég get ekki munað... means I can’t remember...

After the verb geta, Icelandic normally does not use að before the next verb.

So you say:

Ég get ekki munað verðið.

not:

Ég get ekki að munað verðið.

This is similar to how English says I can remember rather than I can to remember.

After geta, Icelandic usually uses the verb form called the supine (Icelandic: sagnbót), not the plain infinitive.

The verb is að muna = to remember, but after geta it appears as munað:

• ég get munað
• ég get ekki munað

This is very common with geta:

• geta séð = can see
• geta farið = can go
• geta gert = can do

So munað is the expected form here.

In a normal Icelandic main clause, the finite verb usually comes early in the sentence, and ekki normally follows that finite verb.

So:

Ég get ekki munað verðið.

is the normal order.

A useful pattern is:

Subject + finite verb + ekki + rest

For example:

• Ég skil ekki. = I don’t understand.
• Hann kemur ekki. = He isn’t coming.
• Við getum ekki beðið. = We can’t wait.

Verðið is the definite form of verð, which means price.

• verð = price
• verðið = the price

The ending -ið is the attached definite article for a neuter singular noun.

So here:

munað verðið = remember the price

Because the sentence means the price, not just price in a general sense.

Icelandic usually adds the definite article directly onto the noun:

• verð = a price / price
• verðið = the price

English uses a separate word the, but Icelandic often puts that meaning at the end of the noun.

Because the expression is að giska á = to guess / estimate.

This is a fixed verb + preposition combination, so it is best learned as a whole unit:

giska á e-ð = guess something / estimate something

So:

ég giska á tuttugu þúsund
means
I guess twenty thousand / I estimate twenty thousand

The preposition á does not translate literally as on here. It is just part of the expression.

Here á takes the accusative.

With a phrase like tuttugu þúsund, the case is not very visible on the surface, but grammatically the number phrase is functioning as the object of giska á.

So the important thing for a learner is:

giska á + accusative

It means twenty thousand.

• tuttugu = twenty
• þúsund = thousand

So:

tuttugu þúsund = 20,000

In this sentence, it most likely means twenty thousand krónur, but the currency is omitted because it is understood from the context.

Icelandic often leaves out words that are obvious from context.

If people are already talking about a price, then tuttugu þúsund naturally means something like twenty thousand krónur.

So the sentence does not need to spell out the currency every time.

Because en ég giska á tuttugu þúsund is a new clause with its own subject and verb.

The sentence has two coordinated parts:

• Ég get ekki munað verðið
• en ég giska á tuttugu þúsund

Repeating ég is completely normal and natural here.

It can be either, depending on context.

In everyday speech, especially with numbers, giska á often means make an approximate estimate:

• not an exact figure
• just your best guess

So in this sentence it has the sense of:

I can’t remember the price, but I’d guess about twenty thousand.