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Við tilkynnum innbrotið en gæslumaðurinn gerir það ekki.

Við tilkynnum innbrotið en gæslumaðurinn gerir það ekki.
We report the burglary, but the guard does not do so.
From Lesson 480:Replacing verbs (gera það)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Við tilkynnum innbrotið en gæslumaðurinn gerir það ekki.

In English, this sentence just ends with "does not." Why does Icelandic use gerir það ekki instead of just gerir ekki?
Icelandic doesn't leave verbs "hanging" without an object the way English does with its helper verbs. To avoid repeating the main action, Icelandic uses the pro-verb construction gera það (literally "to do it" or "to do so"). You must include það; you cannot just say gerir ekki.
What exactly is það replacing grammatically in this sentence?
The pronoun það stands in for the entire active predicate from the first clause: að tilkynna innbrotið (to report the burglary). Even though it represents a whole phrase, it functions simply as the accusative direct object of the verb gerir.
Could I change the word order to ...en gæslumaðurinn gerir ekki það?
No. Because það is a light pronoun acting as the direct object, standard Icelandic word order requires it to come immediately after the verb in a main clause. This pushes the negation adverb ekki to the position right after the pronoun, making gerir það ekki the only natural word order.
How is the compound word gæslumaðurinn formed?
It is made of the noun gæsla (guarding, surveillance) and maður (person/man), plus the masculine definite article -inn. When combining them, the first word takes its genitive singular form, which is why gæsla becomes gæslu-, giving us gæslumaður.

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