Það er lítið loft í dekkinu, svo ég þarf að pumpa það áður en ég hjóla í vinnuna.

Það er is a very common Icelandic way to say there is / there are or to introduce a situation.

So Það er lítið loft í dekkinu literally looks like it is little air in the tire, but idiomatically it means there is little air in the tire.

In Icelandic, það is often used this way as a kind of grammatical placeholder, much like English there in there is.

Because lítið agrees with loft.

The noun loft is:

• singular
• neuter
• nominative here

So the adjective lítill must also be in the:

• singular
• neuter
• nominative form

That gives lítið.

A useful comparison:

• lítill bíll = a small car
• lítil taska = a small bag
• lítið loft = little air / a small amount of air

Yes. In this sentence, loft means air.

This is a very common Icelandic use. Depending on context, loft can mean things like:

• air
• atmosphere
• sometimes ceiling in certain expressions

Here, because the sentence is about a tire, loft clearly means air.

Í dekkinu means in the tire.

Here is the breakdown:

• dekk = tire
• -inu = the definite article in dative singular for a neuter noun

So:

• dekk = a tire
• dekkið = the tire
• í dekkinu = in the tire

The reason for the dative form is that í takes:

• dative when it means location: in
• accusative when it means motion into something

Here the air is located in the tire, so Icelandic uses the dative: í dekkinu.

Because í changes case depending on meaning.

With location, it takes the dative:

• í dekkinu = in the tire
• í húsinu = in the house

With motion toward/into, it takes the accusative:

• fara í húsið = go into the house

In your sentence, nothing is moving into the tire at that point. It is just describing where the air is. So Icelandic uses the dative: í dekkinu.

Here svo means so.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• Það er lítið loft í dekkinu = There is little air in the tire
• svo ég þarf að pumpa það = so I need to pump it

In other contexts, svo can also mean things like:

• then
• very / so
• as

But here it is simply the conjunction so.

The verb þurfa means to need.

In Icelandic, when þurfa is followed by another verb, that second verb is usually in the infinitive with að:

• Ég þarf að fara = I need to go
• Ég þarf að vinna = I need to work
• Ég þarf að pumpa það = I need to pump it

So:

• þarf = need / have to
• að pumpa = to pump

It is a loanword, but it is fully usable as a normal Icelandic verb.

Að pumpa means to pump, especially in everyday situations like pumping a tire.

Learners often notice that many modern everyday verbs in Icelandic can be borrowed or adapted this way. Even if the word looks familiar to an English speaker, its grammar still behaves Icelandically.

Here það refers to dekkið — the tire.

Even though the earlier part says there is little air in the tire, what you physically pump is the tire, not the air itself. So það means it, referring to the tire.

It is það because dekk is a neuter noun.

Because it matches the gender of the noun it refers to.

Dekk is a neuter noun, so when you say it and mean the tire, Icelandic uses the neuter pronoun það.

This is very common in Icelandic: pronouns usually agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they replace.

Áður en means before.

It introduces a clause:

• áður en ég hjóla í vinnuna = before I bike to work

You can think of it as a fixed expression. A few examples:

• áður en ég fer = before I go
• áður en hún kemur = before she comes

So in your sentence, it sets the time relationship: first pump the tire, then bike to work.

Because Icelandic normally uses a preposition for to work here.

• hjóla = bike / cycle
• í vinnuna = to work

This is an idiomatic pattern. Icelandic often says í vinnuna, í skólann, í bæinn, etc. to show movement toward a destination.

So:

• ég hjóla í vinnuna = I bike to work

Vinnuna is the accusative singular definite form of vinna.

Here is the logic:

• vinna = work
• vinnan = the work
• í vinnuna = to work

Because í expresses movement toward a destination here, it takes the accusative. That is why you get vinnuna, not vinnunni.

Also, í vinnuna is a very common Icelandic expression meaning to work, even though it literally looks like into the work or to the work.

Icelandic often uses the present tense where English might use a future meaning.

So:

• ég þarf að pumpa það can mean I need to pump it
• áður en ég hjóla í vinnuna can mean before I bike to work

The future sense is understood from the context. This is very normal in Icelandic.

A natural opposite would be:

Það er nóg loft í dekkinu, svo ég þarf ekki að pumpa það áður en ég hjóla í vinnuna.

Key changes:

• lítið loft → nóg loft = enough air
• þarf → þarf ekki = do not need

This is a useful contrast because it shows the same structure with just a few changes.