Hún leggur spilin á hvolf til þess að fela framhliðina.

Leggur is the present tense of leggja, which means to lay, put, place.

In this sentence, Hún leggur spilin á hvolf, it means that she places the cards in a certain position or orientation.

A useful comparison is:

• leggja = to lay/put something
• liggja = to lie / be lying

So here, because she is actively moving the cards, leggur is the right verb.

Because leggja and liggja are different verbs.

• leggja is transitive: someone puts or lays something
• liggja is intransitive: something lies or is lying somewhere

So:

• Hún leggur spilin á hvolf = She lays/puts the cards face down
• Spilin liggja á hvolfi = The cards are lying face down

English learners often mix these up because English lay and lie are also confusing.

Spilin is the definite plural form of spil, and here it means the cards.

It is the direct object of leggur, so in grammatical terms it is in the accusative. However, for this noun, the nominative and accusative plural look the same, so you do not see a visible difference here.

So:

• spil = cards / a card-related item, depending on context
• spilin = the cards

In this sentence, the meaning is clearly the cards.

Because neuter nouns in Icelandic often have the same form in the nominative and accusative, especially in the plural.

So even though spilin is the object here, it does not change form.

That means you often have to rely on:

• word order
• the verb
• the overall meaning

to tell what is the subject and what is the object.

Á hvolf is a fixed expression meaning upside down or face down, depending on the object.

With cards, the natural English meaning is face down.

So:

• leggja spilin á hvolf = put the cards face down

This is best learned as a whole phrase, rather than translated word by word.

Icelandic often uses idiomatic position expressions where English uses a more specific phrase.

With cards, English says face down, but Icelandic can say á hvolf, which more generally suggests that something is turned so that the side you normally see is hidden.

So the sentence sounds natural in Icelandic even if the wording does not match English exactly word for word.

Til þess að means in order to or so as to.

It introduces the purpose of the action:

• Hún leggur spilin á hvolf = she puts the cards face down
• til þess að fela framhliðina = in order to hide the front side

So the whole structure explains why she does it.

Yes. Til að is a shorter and very common version.

So this would also be natural:

• Hún leggur spilin á hvolf til að fela framhliðina.

Both are correct. The longer til þess að can sound a little fuller or more explicit, but the meaning is the same here.

Because after til þess að in this kind of sentence, Icelandic uses the infinitive to express purpose.

So:

• að fela = to hide

This works much like English:

• She puts the cards face down to hide the front side

There is no need for a fully conjugated verb here.

Framhliðina is the definite singular accusative of framhlið, meaning the front side.

It is in the accusative because it is the direct object of fela:

• fela eitthvað = hide something

So:

• fela framhliðina = hide the front side

This can feel a little odd to an English speaker.

Here, the singular framhliðina is being used in a more general sense: the front side as the relevant side being hidden. Icelandic can do this where English might sometimes prefer the fronts or the face sides.

So the singular does not necessarily mean there is only one physical front. It can refer more generally to the visible front side of the cards.

Yes, this is a very natural word order.

The sentence goes:

• Hún = subject
• leggur = verb
• spilin = object
• á hvolf = result/position
• til þess að fela framhliðina = purpose

So the structure is basically:

She puts the cards face down in order to hide the front side.

That is a very normal Icelandic pattern.

Yes, Icelandic word order is somewhat flexible, especially for emphasis.

For example, you could say:

• Til þess að fela framhliðina leggur hún spilin á hvolf.

This puts the purpose first:

• In order to hide the front side, she puts the cards face down.

But the original sentence is the most neutral and straightforward version.