Breakdown of Skilur nemandinn það?
nemandinn
the student
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
skilja
to understand
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Questions & Answers about Skilur nemandinn það?
Why does the verb skilja change to skilur here?
Skilur is the "he/she/it" form of the verb skilja (to understand). Because skilja is a Group 3 verb, it takes the -ur ending for "you" (singular) and "he/she/it" in the present tense, rather than the -ar ending you see in Group 1 verbs.
Why is the verb at the very beginning of the sentence?
To form a yes/no question in Icelandic, you simply swap the subject and the verb. Instead of "The student understands" (Nemandinn skilur), you say "Understands the student?" (Skilur nemandinn?). Icelandic does not use helping verbs like "does" or "do" to make questions.
How does the word nemandinn break down?
It is made of the noun nemandi (student) plus the attached definite article -nn (the). In Icelandic, the word for "the" is usually added to the end of a noun as a suffix, making nemandinn mean "the student".
What case is það in here?
Það means "it" and is the direct object receiving the action (the thing being understood), so it is in the accusative case. Conveniently, the word það looks exactly the same in both the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) forms!