Leikreglurnar eru hér.

In Icelandic, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being written as a separate word.

So:

• leikreglur = rules of the game / game rules or simply rules
• leikreglurnar = the rules

The ending -nar here is the definite plural ending.

It is a compound noun plus the definite ending:

• leik- = game / play
• reglur = rules
• -nar = the for this plural form

So leikreglurnar literally works like the game-rules, which is why the whole word means the rules or more specifically the rules of the game.

Compounds are very common in Icelandic.

Because the subject is plural.

• er = is for singular
• eru = are for plural

Since leikreglurnar means the rules, which is plural, the verb has to be plural too:

• Leikreglan er hér. = The rule is here.
• Leikreglurnar eru hér. = The rules are here.

It is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence.

The basic structure is:

• Leikreglurnar = subject
• eru = verb
• hér = adverb meaning here

So this is the form you would expect for the rules when they are the thing doing the being in the sentence.

Yes. This is a very normal sentence pattern:

• Subject + verb + adverb
• Leikreglurnar eru hér.

That is very close to English: The rules are here.

However, Icelandic is flexible, and you can also move hér to the front:

• Hér eru leikreglurnar.

That also means The rules are here, but it puts more focus on here.

No. This is a very common learner question.

• hér = here in the sense of location
• hingað = to here / hither in the sense of motion toward this place

So:

• Leikreglurnar eru hér. = The rules are here.
• If something is moving here, you would use hingað, not hér.

A useful contrast:

• Bókin er hér. = The book is here.
• Komdu hingað. = Come here.

Literally, it is built from game/play + rules, so yes, it originally means rules of the game or game rules.

But like English the rules of the game, it can also be used more broadly or metaphorically depending on context.

So a learner should think:

• literal meaning: game rules
• in many contexts: simply the rules
• sometimes metaphorical: the rules of how something works

A rough learner-friendly guide would be:

• Leikreglurnar ≈ LAYK-rek-lur-nar
• eru ≈ EH-ru
• hér ≈ hyehr or hyair, with the h clearly pronounced

A few useful notes:

• Stress usually falls on the first syllable in Icelandic words.
• In reglur, the g is not pronounced like a strong English g in go; it is closer to a k-like sound here.
• The r sounds should be clearer and more tapped or rolled than in most English accents.

You do not need perfect pronunciation immediately, but getting the first-syllable stress right helps a lot.

Yes, if the context already makes it clear which rules you mean.

• Leikreglurnar eru hér. = The game rules / the rules are here.
• Reglurnar eru hér. = The rules are here.

Using leikreglurnar is more specific. Using reglurnar is more general.

So the longer form is useful when you want to make clear that these are the rules of the game, not rules of something else.

Because Icelandic, like other Germanic languages, often forms compounds by joining nouns together into a single word.

So instead of writing something like game rules as two separate words, Icelandic often prefers one compound word:

• leikreglur

Then the definite article is added to that whole compound:

• leikreglurnar

This is extremely normal in Icelandic, so getting comfortable with long compound words is an important part of learning the language.