Learn Icelandic: Stelpan er ný hér.

Adjectives in Icelandic change to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because Stelpan (the girl) is a feminine noun, we use the feminine form of the adjective. For the word nýr (new), the feminine form drops the -r to become ný.

How does the word Stelpan mean the girl if there is no separate word for the?

In Icelandic, the word for the is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix, rather than being a separate word. The base word is stelpa (girl). To say the girl, we attach the definite suffix. Since stelpa already ends in a vowel, we just add -n to get Stelpan.

Why do the words ný and hér have accent marks?

In Icelandic, an accent mark tells you that the vowel makes a completely different sound; it does not just indicate emphasis. The letter ý makes an ee sound, while an unaccented y sounds like a short ih. Similarly, é makes a yeh sound, unlike a regular e.

Is the word order in this sentence exactly the same as in English?