Ertu til í að hjálpa mér? Ég er næstum klár með verkefnið.

In Icelandic yes/no questions, the verb usually comes first.

• Þú ert til í að hjálpa mér. = You are willing/up for helping me.
• Ertu til í að hjálpa mér? = Are you willing/up for helping me?

Also, ertu is just the very common combined form of ert þú. In speech and writing, Icelandic often joins them like this in questions.

Vera til í is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• to be willing to
• to be up for
• to feel like

So:

• Ertu til í að hjálpa mér? = Are you up for helping me? / Would you be willing to help me?

Be careful: it is best learned as a whole phrase:

• vera til í e-ð / að + infinitive

Examples:

• Ég er til í kaffi. = I’m up for coffee.
• Hún er til í að koma. = She’s willing to come.

Here að hjálpa is the infinitive, like to help in English.

After vera til í, Icelandic commonly uses:

• að + infinitive

So:

• til í að hjálpa = willing to help

This að is very often the equivalent of English to before a verb.

Because the verb hjálpa takes the dative case in Icelandic.

So:

• hjálpa mér = help me
• hjálpa þér = help you
• hjálpa honum = help him

This is something English speakers usually just have to memorize, because English does not show this kind of case difference clearly.

A quick comparison:

• mig = accusative me
• mér = dative to/for me, but often just translated as me

With hjálpa, use mér.

Normally, yes. Hjálpa is one of the common Icelandic verbs that govern the dative.

Examples:

• Geturðu hjálpað mér? = Can you help me?
• Við hjálpuðum þeim. = We helped them.

This is why learning verbs together with their case pattern is very useful in Icelandic.

Næstum means almost.

In Ég er næstum klár með verkefnið, it modifies klár:

• næstum klár = almost ready / almost finished

Its placement is natural Icelandic word order here. You can think of it as working much like English almost in I’m almost done.

It can mean different things depending on context.

Common meanings of klár include:

• clever/smart
• ready
• finished/done

In this sentence, klár með verkefnið means:

• done with the assignment/project
• finished with the assignment/project

So here it does not mean smart.

Because klár með is a very natural Icelandic way to say that you are done with something.

So:

• Ég er klár með verkefnið. = I’m done with the assignment/project.

This is similar to another very common expression:

• Ég er búinn með verkefnið. = I’m finished with the assignment/project.

In everyday language, both can work, though búinn með is often especially common.

Verkefnið is the definite form:

• verkefni = an assignment / a project
• verkefnið = the assignment / the project

Icelandic usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun rather than using a separate word like the.

So:

• verkefnið literally contains the idea of the inside the word.

This is a very good question, because learners often expect með to be followed by the dative.

In expressions like vera klár með e-ð or vera búinn með e-ð, the whole phrase is best learned as an idiomatic construction meaning to be done with something, and the noun appears in the form you see here:

• Ég er klár með verkefnið.
• Ég er búinn með bókina.

So in this pattern, you should memorize:

• klár með + accusative
• búinn með + accusative

It is better to learn the whole chunk than to try to force a simpler preposition rule onto it.

Yes, absolutely. That is very natural.

Compare:

• Ég er næstum klár með verkefnið.
• Ég er næstum búinn með verkefnið.

Both mean something like:

• I’m almost done with the assignment/project.

A slight nuance:

• búinn very often strongly suggests finished/completed
• klár can suggest ready/done

In many everyday situations, the difference is small.

It is natural and fairly conversational. It sounds friendly and common.

It is not rude, but it is also not extremely formal. If you want something a bit more polite or indirect, you could say:

• Gætirðu hjálpað mér? = Could you help me?
• Værirðu til í að hjálpa mér? = Would you be willing to help me?

So Ertu til í... is a good everyday phrase to know.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• Ertu til í að hjálpa mér?
  ≈ ER-tu til ee ath HYAL-pa myair?

• Ég er næstum klár með verkefnið.
  ≈ yeg er NIGH-stum klowr meth VERK-efnith

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• j in Icelandic is usually like English y
• æ often sounds somewhat like eye
• ð is like the th in this
• hj in hjálpa is not pronounced exactly like English; many learners approximate it at first with hy

This is only approximate, but it can help as a starting point.

Not very well. A literal breakdown would be something like:

• Ertu = Are you
• til í = not something that translates neatly word for word here
• að hjálpa = to help
• mér = me

But the natural meaning of the whole sentence is:

• Are you willing to help me?
• Are you up for helping me?

So this is one of those cases where the whole expression matters more than a word-for-word translation.