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Við borðum súpuna og þau borða salatið.

Við borðum súpuna og þau borða salatið.
We eat the soup and they eat the salad.
From Lesson 42:Compound sentences (og, en, eða)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Við borðum súpuna og þau borða salatið.

og
and
við
we
þau
they (n)
borða
to eat
súpan
the soup
salatið
the salad

Questions & Answers about Við borðum súpuna og þau borða salatið.

Does the word og change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, it doesn't! og (and) is a coordinating conjunction, which means it simply links two normal sentences together without flipping the words around. The second part keeps the standard Subject-Verb-Object order: þau (subject) borða (verb) salatið (object).
Why does the verb change from borðum to borða?
Verbs in Icelandic change their endings depending on who is doing the action. Since við (we) is the subject of the first part, we use the 'we' form borðum. In the second part, the subject is þau (they), so we use the 'they' form borða.
How do we know it says 'the soup' and 'the salad' instead of just 'soup' and 'salad'?
Icelandic attaches the word for 'the' to the end of nouns. The -na in súpuna makes it 'the soup', and the -ið in salatið makes it 'the salad'. Notice that the base word súpa (soup) changes its ending to súpu before adding -na because it is the object being eaten (the accusative case).
Why is þau used for 'they' instead of þeir or þær?
þau is the neuter plural form of 'they'. In Icelandic, you use þeir for a group of only men, and þær for a group of only women. If the group is mixed (both men and women) or if you don't know their gender, you always default to the neuter form þau.

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