Learn Icelandic: Gamli bóndabærinn er sveitalegur en svolítið kaldalegur. - The old farm is rustic but a bit cold-looking.

The -legur suffix is highly productive and works much like '-ly' or '-ish' in English. When added to a noun like sveit (countryside), it creates an adjective meaning 'having the quality of' that noun (sveitalegur = rustic). When added to an adjective like kaldur (cold), it specifically shifts the meaning to describe appearance. The farm isn't necessarily physically cold inside, but it looks cold or uninviting (kaldalegur).

Why is there an extra 'a' in the middle of kaldalegur?

When forming -legur adjectives from existing adjective roots, a connecting vowel (very often -a-) is frequently inserted between the root and the suffix to make the word flow better. The root of kaldur is kald-, which becomes kaldalegur rather than the difficult-to-pronounce 'kaldlegur'.

Why is the word for 'old' written as gamli instead of its dictionary form gamall?

This is a quick refresher on weak adjectives! Because the adjective is modifying a definite noun (bóndabærinn, the farm), it must use the weak declension. Gamli is the weak masculine nominative form of gamall.

Why doesn't the word svolítið change to masculine to agree with the masculine noun bóndabærinn?