Breakdown of Vélin á það til að hiksta ef blöndungurinn er skítugur.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
to (infinitive marker)
vélin
the machine (f)
til
to
ef
if
skítugur
dirty
eiga það til að
to tend to
hiksta
to sputter
blöndungurinn
the carburetor
Questions & Answers about Vélin á það til að hiksta ef blöndungurinn er skítugur.
How does eiga það til að work in this sentence, and is the það strictly necessary?
The phrase eiga það til að literally translates as to own it to, but it is an idiom meaning to tend to or to have a tendency to. The pronoun það acts as a placeholder object pointing forward to the action in the infinitive phrase, which is að hiksta. Standard Icelandic requires the það in this construction, so you shouldn't drop it.
I learned the verb hiksta as meaning to hiccup. How does it translate to sputtering here?
You are completely right about the literal meaning. Just like in English, Icelandic uses the concept of hiccuping metaphorically for machinery or engines that are running roughly, momentarily losing power, or sputtering.
Why does the adjective skítugur end in -ur in this sentence?
The adjective skítugur must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes. Here, it describes blöndungurinn, which is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case. The -ur ending is the standard marker for masculine, singular, nominative adjectives. For comparison, if the sentence were describing the engine (vélin, which is feminine), it would drop the ending and become skítug.
Does the use of ef require a different verb mood for the verb er?
Not in this sentence. The conjunction ef connects a factual, real-world condition to its direct result. Because this sentence describes a general, mechanical fact rather than a hypothetical or unlikely scenario, the verb er stays in the standard present indicative mood rather than taking a subjunctive form.
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