Sonur hennar er ekki latur, en hann er stundum þrjóskur þegar hann þarf að taka til.

In Icelandic, a noun followed by a possessive pronoun like hennar often does not take the definite article.

So:

• sonur hennar = her son
• literally, this is something like son her

Using sonurinn hennar is possible in some contexts, but sonur hennar is the normal, natural way to say her son in a general statement like this.

Hennar means her.

It is the genitive form of the pronoun hún (she). Icelandic often uses the genitive for possession.

So:

• hún = she
• hennar = her

In sonur hennar, the word hennar shows whose son it is: her son.

Because they are adjectives agreeing with a masculine singular nominative subject.

The subject is:

• sonur hennar = masculine singular
• later also hann = he, also masculine singular

So the adjectives must match:

• latur = lazy (masculine singular nominative)
• þrjóskur = stubborn (masculine singular nominative)

If the subject were feminine or plural, the adjective form would change.

Because ekki usually comes before the word or phrase being negated.

So:

• er ekki latur = is not lazy

This is the normal Icelandic word order with vera (to be) plus an adjective.

Compare:

• Hann er þreyttur. = He is tired.
• Hann er ekki þreyttur. = He is not tired.

En means but.

It connects two contrasting ideas:

• Sonur hennar er ekki latur
• en hann er stundum þrjóskur

So the sentence contrasts not lazy with sometimes stubborn.

Icelandic usually keeps the subject pronoun if a new clause begins, even when English might also do the same.

So:

• ..., en hann er stundum þrjóskur ... = ..., but he is sometimes stubborn ...

The pronoun hann makes the second clause clear and complete. Leaving it out here would sound wrong.

Stundum means sometimes.

It is an adverb, and in this sentence it comes after the verb:

• hann er stundum þrjóskur

That placement is very natural in Icelandic. Adverbs like this can sometimes move depending on emphasis, but this is a common and neutral position.

Þegar means when.

It introduces a subordinate clause:

• þegar hann þarf að taka til = when he has to tidy up

So it tells us when he is sometimes stubborn.

Because after a subordinating conjunction like þegar (when), Icelandic normally uses subordinate clause word order, where the subject comes before the verb.

So:

• þegar hann þarf ... = correct

This is different from main-clause verb-second order, which is a big feature of Icelandic.

A learner often notices that Icelandic main clauses can move the verb early, but subordinate clauses are more straightforward here.

Þarf að means has to or needs to.

The verb is þurfa = to need / to have to.

In this sentence:

• hann þarf að taka til = he has to tidy up

The að is the infinitive marker, like English to before a verb.

So:

• þarf = needs / has to
• að taka til = to tidy up

Because taka is in the infinitive, and Icelandic often uses að before an infinitive, especially after verbs like þurfa.

So:

• þarf að taka til = has to tidy up

This is similar to English to in has to tidy up, although the structure is not always identical in every sentence.

Taka til is a fixed verbal expression meaning to tidy up, to clean up, or to put things in order.

You should learn it as a unit:

• taka = take
• til = a particle here
• taka til = tidy up

The meaning is not just the sum of the individual words, so it is best treated like a phrasal verb.

Here it is best understood as part of the expression taka til.

In many cases in Icelandic, short words like this act as verb particles and help create a meaning that is different from the basic verb alone.

So in this sentence:

• taka til does not mean simply take to
• it means tidy up

Because they are predicate adjectives used with vera (to be), and they describe the subject.

The subject is nominative:

• Sonur hennar
• hann

So the adjectives that describe him also appear in the nominative:

• latur
• þrjóskur

This is normal after vera in Icelandic.

The dictionary form is þurfa.

In the sentence, þarf is the 3rd person singular present tense:

• ég þarf = I need / I have to
• hann þarf = he needs / he has to

So þarf is the form used with hann.

The letter þ is pronounced like the th in English thing.

So:

• þarf
• þrjóskur

both begin with that voiceless th sound.

This is different from ð, which usually sounds more like the th in this.

It could repeat the noun, but that would sound less natural.

Icelandic, like English, usually switches to a pronoun once the person is already clear:

• Sonur hennar er ekki latur, en hann er stundum þrjóskur ...

This is the most natural way to avoid unnecessary repetition.

Not necessarily.

Ekki latur means simply not lazy. It does not automatically mean hardworking or diligent.

The sentence is carefully worded:

• he is not lazy
• but he is sometimes stubborn

So the idea is that his problem is not laziness, but attitude in certain situations.

Yes, sometimes it can, depending on style and emphasis.

The sentence uses a very natural neutral order:

• hann er stundum þrjóskur

But Icelandic adverbs can be somewhat flexible. Still, for learners, this placement is a good model to follow.

It has two main parts joined by en (but):

1. Sonur hennar er ekki latur

   • subject: Sonur hennar
   • verb: er
   • negation + adjective: ekki latur

2. en hann er stundum þrjóskur þegar hann þarf að taka til

   • subject: hann
   • verb: er
   • adverb: stundum
   • adjective: þrjóskur
   • subordinate clause: þegar hann þarf að taka til

So the full meaning is built from:

• a statement,
• a contrast,
• and a time clause explaining when the stubbornness appears.