Kjötið er skemmt, svo ég borða það ekki.

The basic noun is kjöt = meat.

The ending -ið is the definite article attached to the noun, so:

• kjöt = meat
• kjötið = the meat

Icelandic often puts the on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

Kjöt is a neuter noun.

That matters because Icelandic words often have to agree with the noun’s gender and number. In this sentence, the neuter singular noun kjötið affects:

• skemmt — the describing word is in neuter singular form
• það — the pronoun it is also neuter singular

So the grammar of several words in the sentence is determined by the fact that kjöt is neuter.

The basic form is skemmdur.

It changes depending on gender:

• masculine: skemmdur
• feminine: skemmd
• neuter: skemmt

Because kjötið is neuter singular, the sentence uses skemmt.

So:

• Kjötið er skemmt = the meat is spoiled/damaged

This is a very normal Icelandic agreement pattern.

Not in this sentence.

Here, skemmt comes from skemma, which means to damage / spoil.

So kjötið er skemmt means the meat is spoiled or damaged.

A learner might confuse this with words related to skemmta or skemmta sér because they look similar, but here the meaning is clearly from skemma.

It is best understood here as a past participle used like an adjective.

That means it describes the state of the meat:

• kjötið er skemmt = the meat is spoiled

English does something very similar with words like spoiled, broken, or cooked.

Here svo means so or therefore.

It connects the two ideas:

• the meat is spoiled
• so I do not eat it

In other contexts, svo can mean other things too, such as then, thus, or so in other senses, but here it is showing result/consequence.

In the present tense, many Icelandic verbs have the same form for the infinitive and for 1st person singular.

So:

• að borða = to eat
• ég borða = I eat

Compare:

• ég borða
• þú borðar
• hann/hún/það borðar

So borða after ég is exactly what you should expect.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Icelandic often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• I eat
• I am eating

So ég borða það ekki can mean I don’t eat it or I’m not eating it, depending on the situation.

If Icelandic wants to strongly emphasize an ongoing action, it can use other constructions, but the simple present is very common.

Það means it, and it refers back to kjötið.

So:

• ég borða það ekki = I do not eat it

Icelandic normally uses the object pronoun here, just as English does. Without það, the sentence would no longer clearly say what is not being eaten.

It is the direct object, so its case is accusative.

However, in the neuter singular, the form það looks the same in both nominative and accusative, so you can only tell from its job in the sentence.

Here:

• ég = subject
• borða = verb
• það = object

So it is accusative in function, even though the form does not change.

It is not simply because ekki always goes at the end.

What is happening here is that the pronoun það is an unstressed object pronoun, and in Icelandic such pronouns often come before words like ekki.

So the normal order is:

• ég borða það ekki

This is more natural than:

• ég borða ekki það

Compare that with a full noun phrase:

• ég borða ekki kjötið = I do not eat the meat

So the position of ekki depends partly on what kind of object comes before it.

In this sentence, svo is working like a conjunction meaning so, joining two clauses.

Because of that, the next clause keeps normal subject-verb order:

• svo ég borða það ekki

A learner may expect verb-second word order after the first word, but that happens after many fronted adverbs or phrases, not after every conjunction.

For comparison:

• Þess vegna borða ég það ekki = Therefore I don’t eat it

There, þess vegna is a fronted expression, so the verb comes before the subject. But with svo used the way it is here, ég borða is normal.