There are numerous reason why I love this language.
First of all, I love Old Norse culture, history and mythology. My favorite piece of literature is the poem “Hávamál”. I love the other poems in Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda and the Sagas of Icelanders. I have read some of them in Bulgarian and others in English, but I dream to read them in original or at least in Modern Icelandic. Icelandic is the closest related language to Old Norse in regard to grammar and vocabulary. Pronunciation is very different, word order and some of the semantics have changed, so it is arguably if an Icelandic speaker today could speak and understand an Old Norse speaker, but at least he could read and understand the written Old Norse to some very high degree (excluding the kennings for example – poetic phrases, which are derived from some stories, usually mythological and could not be understood by anyone without previous knowledge on the subject or further explanations).
Sometimes the Icelandic language is regarded as a linguistic fossil because of its conservative nature and linguistic purism. As a person that has love and respect for the language, I admire that. It’s beautiful to think of it as some state of the Old Norse language preserved like the time has stopped just before hundreds of years and not much has changed since then.
This could be explained with several reasons. Some of them are the geographical isolation of Iceland, the lack of external cultural contacts and influences and a linguist named Rasmus Rask. The Icelandic authorities have also played a major role and still continue to do so, leading a policy of promoting the language and keeping it up resistant to loan words. Foreign terms and new concepts are translated into Icelandic often by creating new words. The most popular example is the word “tölva” (computer), consisting of “völva” (prophetess) and ‘tala’ (number).
Personal
names also fall within the scope of this linguistic purism. The Icelandic
Naming Committee has a list of approved names and new names are introduced only
under certain conditions, one of which is their compatibility with Icelandic
grammar.
If this seems strange to you, you should know that even such thing like the Horse Naming Committee exists in Iceland and it was established not long ago in 2017.
Since language is shaped by culture and everyday life, Icelandic is a language of survivalists, who have been living isolated in very harsh conditions for centuries and have still managed to survive. I like to think of Icelandic as a reflection of that and it fascinates me. Icelanders have a very special connection with nature and the language further confirms that – weather is a favorite topic for conversations and arguments and it is claimed that there are dozens of very specific words for snow and wind.
Last but not least, Iceland is magical – nature out of this world, Northern Lights and some elves, trolls and Christmas pranksters! Learning the language is difficult, but it is a rewarding experience that brings satisfaction.
Hi,
language lovers and enthusiasts! If you wonder “Should I start learning this
beautiful language?” or if you are lucky enough and have the pleasure to be in
the process of learning it, then welcome to my blog!
I am from Bulgaria and I have the chance to be attending language courses in Icelandic and to have a native speaker for a teacher. Many times, though, when I look for resources and information about certain topics (mostly regarding grammar), I find that these are too limited online and even at the bookstores and libraries in my country.
I know how frustrating this could be, especially for beginners. This is why I decided to create this blog – I love Icelandic and I wish to help the people who would like to learn it. I would like to say and present things in a way that I wish somebody to have presented them to me when I started learning the language! In short: I know the struggle.
So along with advancing my language and making progress, I’ll be making posts, which will hopefully be useful to all of you. Please have in mind that I am also just a learner, so it is possible for me to make some mistakes – if you spot any, just let me know in the comments. I will gladly receive your feedback!
Most of the posts will be focused on grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, but I plan to have also posts related to Icelandic culture. You can share your ideas as well and I will do my best to cover them.
The purpose of this post is just to give you a basic idea of the use of prepositions in Icelandic. Prepositions are a tricky thing in English and even trickier in Icelandic, where they govern different cases. Let’s begin with the prepositions, which govern only one case and could actually be helpful to decide which case to use in a sentence:
Prepositions governing the accusative case:
um – about
(í) gegnum – through
kringum – around
umfram – in addition
fyrir framan – in front of
fyrir aftan – behind
fyrir handan – beyond
fyrir neðan – underneath, below
fyrir ofan – above
fyrir utan – apart from
Prepositions governing the dative case:
að – towards, up to
gagnvart – towards
frá – from
af – off
hjá – besides, by, with
úr – out of
handa – for
á móti – against
undan – from under
nálægt – near
ásamt – along
Prepositions governing the genitive case:
til – to
án – without
auk – in addition, apart from
milli – between
vegna – due to, because of
handan – on the other side
innan – inside
utan – outside
ofan – above
neðan – below
Some prepositions can be governing either the accusative or the dative case depending on thepresence or the lack of movement. We use the accusative if there is a motion/change implied and dative if it’s a static situation ( the same at the end as it was at the start ). One popular example to illustrate this, can be found on Wikipedia and in some textbooks:
Kötturinn skríður undir rúmið. (The cat crawls under the bed)
Kötturinn skríður undir rúminu. (The cat is crawling under the bed)
In the first situation the cat has been somewhere else , crawling from one location to another and ending up under the bed. This change is reflected by the use of the accusative case.
In the second situation the cat has been under the bed, crawling within it, so no change has happened – from the beginning to the very end the cat is under the bed. There is a motion, but there is no actual change of the location, so the dative case is used.
í – in
Ég ætla í vinnunna. (I intend to go to work.)
Ég er í vinnunni. (I am at work.)
á – on
Ég setti bókina á borðið. (I put the book on the table.)
Bókin er á borðinu. (The book is on the table)
eftir – after/behind, along/by (thе use of this preposition is not so defined by the presence of motion/change and depends more on the context and which meaning of all is used.) The same goes for the prepositions við (against to/at,by/to,with/at) and fyrir (before/for/in the way(obstacle)/on behalf of/ago).
eftir+acc – after, by (creation)
eftir+dat – according to/along
á eftir – behind, after
Bókin er eftir vinsælan höfund. (The book is by a popular author.)
Þú ert á eftir mér í röðinni. ( You are after me in the queue .)
undir – under
Ég setti skóna undir rúmið.( I put the shoes under the bed.)
Kötturinn liggur undir rúminu. (The cat lies under the bed.)
yfir – over
Flugvélin flaug yfir sjóinn. (The airplabe flew over the sea.)
Málverkið hangir yfir sófanum. (The painting hangs over the sofa.)
með – with – it governs the dative case if the people/objects/subjects are equal; if the accompanying element wants to be there; if it’s used to show work with an instrument:
Ég fór í bíó með vinum mínum í gær. (I went to the cinema with my friends yesterday.)
Ég skrifa með blýanti. (I write with a pen.)
It governs the accusative case if one of the subjects is in control:
Hún kom með hundinn sinn. (She came with her dog.)
Prepositions of time:
í – for – governs the dative case
fyrir – ago – governs the dative case
eftir – after – governs the accusative case
á – it governs the accusative if something happens on a certain date or time and dative if this thing happens always on this day:
Ég fer í bíó á sunnudagin. (I am going to the cinema this Sunday.)
Ég spila borðspil á sunnudögum. (I play boаrd games on Sundays.)
If the prepositions mentioned above refer to a place, then they would govern the respective cases:
í – in/into – governs either the accusative or the dative case
fyrir – in front of – governs the dative case
eftir – behind/along – governs the dative case
The prepositions can also be part of phrases, which require the use of certain case. For example:
að hringja í + þf (to call someone)
að hugsa til + ef (to think about someone)
The prepositions are definitely not easy, but can be hopefully mastered with a lot of practice.
I believe that in order to learn a language, you don’t need to learn the grammar in detail and to be focused on it too much. The greatest way is to be immersed in the language, preferably to have conversations with native speakers. Unfortunately, I don’t have the chance to be in Iceland right now, neither the opportunity to surround myself with the language, so for the moment, I have decided to treat grammar seriously.
When I see something strange, I would like to know the reason for it. I am also interested in the evolution of a language and I like to observe the changes that have happened in it, its development.
This is why you will see a lot of grammar terminology and abbreviations in my blog, but you can find them all explained below:
Abbreviations
The most common abbreviations that I’ll use refer to gender, number, and cases:
nf. – nominative case
þf. – accusative case
þgf. – dative case
ef. – genitive case
kk. – masculine
kvk. – feminine
hk. – neuter
Also, eintala = singular, fleirtala = plural.
Grammar terminology
V-innskot (V-insertion) – а -v is inserted, when -ar ending is added. Example: stöð (place), but stöðVar.
J-innskot (J-insertion) – a -j is inserted whenever -e, -æ, -ey are followed by an -a or – u ending. The nominative form for an island is ey, but when adding -ar in the genitive case, we have to insert a -j before it (eyjar).
Brottfall (elision/fraction): loss of a sound in a word or phrase – when adding a vowel to a noun or an adjective with two syllables in the stem, the second stem vowel is lost. For example, veður (weather) loses -u when -i is added – veðri.
Samdráttur (contraction): a shortened version of the form of the word is created due to the omission of internal letters and sounds.
Sound shifts: a-hljóðvarp, u-hljóðvarp og i-hljóðvarp. You might have come across them in English like a-shift, u-shift and i-shift. In the Germanic languages, these shifts are called respectively a-umlaut, u-umlaut, i-umlaut or also mutations. A vowel change is triggered by other sound called radio sound. You can see more information about these umlauts on Wikipedia.
U-hljóðvarp (U-umlaut)
The most common one is the u-shift (a→ö/u). A changes into an ö or u in unstressed syllables when followed by u in the next syllable. This u might be either visible or invisible (lost u that is not part of the word anymore, but it has triggered the shift back in timе). If there is an intermediate syllable that separates the two syllables, the shift does not occur.
The shift is very typical for the verbs in the first person plural and the nouns in dative plural due to the -um ending (ég tala → við tölum). The u-shift occurs also in feminine nouns with plural -ur ending and neuter plural nouns with an a in the stem.
It might seem difficult to find u-shift in verslun (store, shop), for example, but in its plural form verslanir, the u-shift is neutralized by the -ir ending and the original -a is returned to the stem. You can think of it like some kind of reverse u-shift and this happens with feminine nouns which have no ending in the singular but do have -ö or -u in the stem (gjöf → gjafir).
I-hljóðvarp (I-umlaut)
This shift is typical for the verbs. There are a lot of vowel stem changes, happening in the first, second and third person singular:
a, o, ö → e
að fara → ég fer
að koma → ég kem
að slökkva → ég slekk
jó, jú, ú → ý
að bjóða → ég býð
að ljúga → ég lýg
að búa → ég bý
á → æ
að fá → ég fæ
að ná → ég næ
au → ey
að hlaupa → ég hleyp
Do you honestly need to know all of this?
You will see a lot of the abbreviations in dictionaries and textbooks. You will notice all of the changes – shifts, sound losses and so on in the language all of the time. You will be more prepared to predict the u-shift in the nouns and verbs, having in mind when does it occur.
Once the grammar is internalized, all of this information might not be necessary, but at the beginning is good to know it, I think.
Asking questions in Icelandic is not so different than asking questions in English. What you need to know is the word order in the sentence, which interrogatives to use and in some cases, what grammatical case the verb or the preposition in a sentence governs.
Word order
In simple sentences, the word order is as it follows:
Subject-verb-object
Þú spilar borðspil. (You play board games.)
When formulating a question, the word order changes:
Verb-subject-object?
Spilаrðu borðspil? (Do you play board games?)
Note that it is common the personal pronoun þú to become part of the verb in questions and in this case þ can change to ð or can be dropped, depending on the verb to which þú is being added:
Ertu heima? (Are you at home?)
When interrogatives are in use, the interrogative is first, followed by the verb and the subject:
Hvað er þetta? (What is this?)
V2 Word order
According to this rule, the finite verb must always be the second constituent ( a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure ) of declarative sentences.
Let’s take for example this sentence:
Í gær fór ég í bíó. (Yesterday I went to the cinema.)
In the typical word order, the sentence would look like that:
Ég fór í bíó í gær. (I went to the cinema yesterday.)
When we move í gær to the first place in the sentence, the verb follows it as it should be the second unit in the sentence and after the verb, comes the subject.
No matter what the first unit is, the second must be the verb. Note that it shouldn’t be the second word, but the second unit. Í gær consists of two words, but it is just one unit. Think of the unit like a semantic part of the sentence.
Hv- words – the interrogatives:
Let’s take a look at the most used interrogatives in Icelandic:
hvað – what
hvar – where
hver – who
hvaða – which
hvenær – when
hvernig – how
af hverju – why
In this list, hvað and hver are interrogative pronouns and they need to be declined in a sentence, according to the grammatical case, governed by the verb or by a preposition. The other interrogatives are adverbs and they do not need declining.
So, when using hvað or hver, you should have in mind what case governs the verb that you are going to use:
Hvað er klukkan? (What time is it?)
Same goes for the prepositions, but they can be at the beginning of the sentence:
Í hverju ertu? (What are you wearing?)
kvk. eintala
kk. eintala
hk. eintala
kvk. fleirtala
kk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
hver
hver
hvað
hverjir
hverjar
hver
þf.
hvern
hverja
hvað
hverja
hverjar
hver
þgf.
hverjum
hverri
hverju
hverjum
hverjum
hverjum
ef.
hvers
hverrar
hvers
hverra
hverra
hverra
The genitive forms could be compared to the English whose:
Hvers sonur ertu? (Whose son are you?)
When asking about people, the masculine and feminine forms are used, and when asking about things, the neuter forms are used.
How do you feel? How blue is the sky today? How would you describe yourself?
At some point, after learning the noun and article declensions, you will want to describe these nouns and for this purpose, you will need the adjectives.
In Icelandic, the adjectives agree with the gender, number and the grammatical case. The nominative singular masculine form of the adjective in its strong declension is the one you will see in the dictionary. It may or may not have an ending (the whole word can be a stem). In the dictionaries, if the adjective has an ending, you will see it separated from the stem with a slash (ensk/ur). It is important to know what the ending is, because when declining the adjective, the ending is removed and new endings are added to the stem.
The adjectives can have weak and strong declension, depending on their use in the sentence.
Weak declension
If an adjective is modified by the article or by pronouns (the demonstrative pronouns this and that, for example), weak declension is needed:
I met the English queen. (Ég hitti ensku drottninguna.)
In the sentence above, since the noun (drottning) has a definite article, the weak declension is used. The verb að hitta governs the accusative case (þf.) and drottning is a feminine noun in singular, so the form we need is ensku:
Weak declension table, singular:
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
enski
enska
enska
ensku
ensku
ensku
þf.
enska
ensku
enska
ensku
ensku
ensku
þgf.
enska
ensku
enska
ensku
ensku
ensku
ef.
enska
ensku
enska
ensku
ensku
ensku
As you can see, the weak declension is pretty easy and there are only three forms of the adjective (with suffixes -i,-a,-u).
Strong declension
You can see categorization of the adjectives by groups, depending on their ending (-r/-ur/-l/-n) or the lack of such in the nominative, but we will look at them just as slight deviations from the standard declension.
When undergoing strong declension, the adjectives have more different forms. Do not panic though! Some of the forms, like the dative and genitive plural, are identical for all genders, so the actual endings to remember are fewer.
Strong declension table:
ensk/ur (english)
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
enskur
ensk
enskt
enskir
enskar
ensk
þf.
enskan
enska
enskt
enska
enskar
ensk
þgf.
enskum
enskri
ensku
enskum
enskum
enskum
ef.
ensks
enskrar
ensks
enskra
enskra
enskra
A lot of changes occur in the nominative singular case. As you can see, the feminine adjectives are without an ending and the neuter get -t as an ending. If there is a in the stem, the u-shift (we covered it in short in this post) occurs in some of the forms. The a changes into ö (u in unstressed position),if the next syllable contains u:
a→ö svart/ur (black):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
svartur
svört
svart
svartir
svartar
svört
þf.
svartan
svarta
svart
svarta
svartar
svört
þgf.
svörtum
svartri
svörtu
svörtum
svörtum
svörtum
ef.
svarts
svartrar
svarts
svartra
svartra
svartra
Note that no -t is added to the neuter form if the ending is preceded by consonant + d/t as is in svart/ur (it is just svart, not svartt).
a→ö , a→u gamal/l (old)
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
gamall
gömul
gamalt
gamlir
gamlar
gömul
þf.
gamlan
gamla
gamalt
gamla
gamlar
gömul
þgf.
gömlum
gamalli
gömlu
gömlum
gömlum
gömlum
ef.
gamals
gamallar
gamals
gamalla
gamalla
gamalla
The stress in Icelandic is on the first syllable, so the second a is unstressed and changes into u, which triggers the first a to change into ö.
This adjective is also an example for loss of a vowel – the second a disappears in some of the forms (gam_la, gam_lar, göm_lum). It is called fraction and occurs when an ending beginning with a vowel (-a,-an,-u,-ir,-ar,-um) is added, in order to ease pronunciation. The fraction does not occur in adjectives ending in -legur though.
Furthermore, -r endings (-ri, -ra,-rar) in -l/l or -n/n adjectives are assimilated. In this case, you can see that instead of r, l is added, so instead of gamalrar, the genitive form in feminine singular is gamallar. Let’s see an example with -n/n adjective:
búin/n (done, finished):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
búinn
búin
búið
búnir
búnar
búin
þf.
búinn
búna
búið
búna
búnar
búin
þgf.
búnum
búinni
búnu
búnum
búnum
búnum
ef.
búins
búinnar
búins
búinna
búinna
búinna
Again, in -r endings, -n is added instead (-ni,-nar,-na). There is a little change of the forms in masculine singular (accusative remains the same as nominative) and neuter singular (-ð is added instead of -t). I is lost in some of the forms (bú_na, bú_nu, bú_nar, bú_nir) – when an ending beginning with a vowel is added and the n is not doubled.
Now, back to the u-shift. It does not occur if there is another syllable with a different vowel after the syllable with a:
falleg/ur (beautiful):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
fallegur
falleg
fallegt
fallegir
fallegar
falleg
þf.
fallegan
fallega
fallegt
fallega
fallegar
falleg
þgf.
fallegum
fallegri
fallegu
fallegum
fallegum
fallegum
ef.
fallegs
fallegrar
fallegs
fallegra
fallegra
fallegra
In this case the adjective ends in -ur. When the final -r or -ur is not an ending but a part of the stem instead, the feminine form stays the same as the masculine. Same goes for adjectives without an ending, when the stem ends in -s or -n+consonant:
viss (sure):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
viss
viss
visst
vissir
vissar
viss
þf.
vissan
vissa
visst
vissa
vissar
viss
þgf.
vissum
vissri
vissu
vissum
vissum
vissum
ef.
viss
vissrar
viss
vissra
vissra
vissra
If the stem ends in a vowel, one more -r is added before -r ending:
hlý/r (warm):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
hlýr
hlý
hlýtt
hlýir
hlýjar
hlý
þf.
hlýjan
hlýja
hlýtt
hlýja
hlýjar
hlý
þgf.
hlýjum
hlýrri
hlýju
hlýjum
hlýjum
hlýjum
ef.
hlýs
hlýrrar
hlýs
hlýrra
hlýrra
hlýrra
J-insertion happens in adjectives whenever -ý,-æ or -ey are followed by -a or -u ending (hlýja).
Note that t in neutral singular forms is doubled if the ending is preceded by a vowel (hlý/r).
Adding -t in neutral adjectives can cause also ð to change into t:
ð→t , góð/ur (good):
kk. eintala
kvk. eintala
hk. eintala
kk. fleirtala
kvk. fleirtala
hk. fleirtala
nf.
góður
góð
gott
góðir
góðar
góð
þf.
góðan
góða
gott
góða
góðar
góð
þgf.
góðum
góðri
góðu
góðum
góðum
góðum
ef.
góðs
góðrar
góðs
góðra
góðra
góðra
There are a lot of rules, but at first, try only to remember the declension endings and then try to pay attention to insertions, assimilations, fractions, shifts and all other occurring changes, when you see them in action.
What I do not like about some learning materials is the lack of overview. While so many tables and rules can be overwhelming at first, I find it useful to have in mind the changes and to start noticing them when I see the word in use, instead of wondering what is this form and why is it so different than the original.
Do you know that according to some studies grammatical gender has an impact on our worldview? According to the concept of linguistic determinism, language determines the way we think, as well as thought processes such as categorization, memory, and perception. Grammatical gender plays an important role in this process, especially in our perceptions of objects and the attributes we associate with them.
Some languages do not have a gender system at all and others do. English has only some traces of the Old-English gender system, such as the personal pronouns and some gender-specific nouns. In Icelandic, the nouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter. The adjectives and some of the numerals (1 to 4) must be agreed with the gender of the nouns. This is why it is extremely important to know the gender of a noun. So, how can you recognize it at first glance?
Guess what… as with too many things in the Icelandic language, there is just no way to know for sure only by looking at the word – there are some typical endings for each gender, but sometimes you can not know (especially when it comes to the nouns without an ending) until checking in the dictionary or seeing what the definite article is.
Typical endings
Typical masculine nouns endings are:
-ur
-i
-ll
-nn
Feminine nouns often end in -a or do not have an ending. Nouns with final -ing or -un are almost always feminine.
Neuter nouns also have no ending and a final accented vowel is common with them.
So, the masculine nouns are quite easy to recognize, but it is not always so easy to distinguish between the feminine and the neuter nouns in the cases in which the noun does not have an ending.
Definite article
Icelandic does not have an indefinite article. It does have a definite article and unlike English, the definite article is not placed in front of the noun but is attached to its end like a suffix. You should first decline a noun and then add the article. The definite article varies per case, gender and number. It is easily remembered though.
karlkyn (kk.) – masculine:
jakki (jacket):
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
jakki
nn
jakkar
nir
þf.
jakka
nn
jakka
na
þgf.
jakka
num
jökku(m)
num
ef.
jakka
ns
jakka
nna
steinn (stone):
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
steinn
inn
steinar
nir
þf.
stein
inn
steina
na
þgf.
steini
num
steinu(m)
num
ef.
steins
ins
steina
nna
The first noun is weak and the second one is strong. The only difference between the definite articles of these two is the additional i in the nominative and accusative singulars. Even if you do not know that, it would be strange to have steinnnn, intead of steinninn.
The same goes for the feminine and neuter nouns. Think of it like that: If when declined the nouns end in a consonant, then i is needed as a connecting part to the article. There is no need to try to remember that, it will come naturally very fast.
kvenkyn (kvk) – feminine:
stelpa (girl)
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
stelpa
n
stelpur
nar
þf.
stelpu
na
stelpur
nar
þgf.
stelpu
nni
stelpu(m)
num
ef.
stelpu
nnar
stelpna
nna
spurning (question)
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
spurning
in
spurningar
nar
þf.
spurningu
na
spurningar
nar
þgf.
spurningu
nni
spurningu(m)
num
ef.
spurningar
innar
spurninga
nna
bók (book)
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
bók
in
bækur
nar
þf.
bók
ina
bækur
nar
þgf.
bók
inni
bóku(m)
num
ef.
bók
innar
bóka
nna
hvorugkyn (hk.) – neuter:
auga (eye)
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
auga
ð
augu
n
þf.
auga
ð
augu
n
þgf.
auga
nu
augu(m)
num
ef.
auga
ns
augna
nna
hús (house)
Eintala
Definite article
Fleirtala
Definite article
nf.
hús
ið
hús
in
þf.
hús
ið
hús
in
þgf.
húsi
nu
húsu(m)
num
ef.
húss
ins
húsa
nna
Learning tips:
The definite article is the same for all genders in the dative and genitive plurals. The fewer things to remember, the better!
Try to group the articles in your head – for example, the nominative singular definite article is the same as the accusative singular for the masculine and the neuter nouns. The nominative plural is the same as the accusative plural for the feminine nouns and so on.
Pay attention to the definite article, since once you see a word with a definite article, you will know its gender (except if you see the dative or genitive plurals)
Past tenses – simple past, recent past, past continous
We use the simple past tense to indicate completely finished actions or events. If what happened is very close to the present moment or the effects from it are still present, we use the construction vera búin/n að + infinitive.
Hún er búin að borða. (She has finished eating.)
Hann er búinn að lesa bókina. (He is finished reading the book.)
In this case, búin/n is an adjective and undergoes declension, depending on the grammatical case, gender and number. You can see all of its forms here. We will look at it in detail in a separate post.
One more construction to mention is vera (in past tense) + að + infinitive. This construction is used to express past continuous tense:
Ég var að læra alla helgina. (I was studying the whole weekend.)
Simple past (Þátið)
The verbs can be either strong or weak, depending exactly on the way they form past tense. The weak verbs have a suffix added to the stem (-ð,-d,-t) and in strong verbs, there are vowel changes + new endings.
Past tense can be hell since a lot of sound changes occur in the strong verbs. However, there is some pattern in these changes, so it’s not all so bad.
Weak verbs
Weak verbs are pretty easy to conjugate. The only treacherous thing is to choose which one of the suffixes to use, but there is actually a rule:
-ð if stem ends in r,f or g; a-category verbs
Persóna
að tala (a-category verb) (to talk, to speak)
Ég
talaði
Þú
talaðir
Hann/Hún/Það
talaði
Við
töluðum
Þið
töluðuð
Þeir/Þær/Þau
töluðu
að gera (to do) – ég gerði,
að horfa (to watch) – ég horfði,
að segja (to say)- ég sagði
-d if stem ends in m,n,l or ð
Persóna
að gleyma (to forget)
Ég
gleymdi
Þú
gleymdir
Hann/Hún/Það
gleymdi
Við
gleymdum
Þið
gleymduð
Þeir/Þær/Þau
gleymdu
að muna (to remmeber) – ég mundi
að skilja (to understand)- ég skildi
að ræða (to discuss) – ég ræddi
-t if stem ends in t,s,k,p or d
Persóna
að brosa (to smile)
Ég
brosti
Þú
brostir
Hann/Hún/Það
brosti
Við
brostum
Þið
brostuð
Þeir/Þær/Þau
brostu
að bæta (to compensate, to patch)- ég bætti
að vaka (to wake, to be awake)- ég vakti
að æpa (to scream, to shout)- ég æpti
að henda (to throw) – ég henti
Strong verbs
No matter what the sound change in the stem is, the endings after the stem are the same:
Persóna
Ég
–
Þú
–st
Hann/Hún/Það
–
Við
-um
Þið
-uð
Þeir/Þær/Þau
–u
Common sound changes to occur are:
Infinitive
Past (1st person singular)
Past (1st person plural)
Past participle
í að bíta (to bite)
ei beit
i bitum
i bitið
jó/jú að bjóða (to invite, to offer)
au bauð
u buðum
o boðið
e/i að brenna (to burn)
a brann
u brunnum
o/u brunnið
e að stela (to steal)
a stal
á stálum
o/u stolið
í/е að lesa (to read)
a las
á lásum
е lesið
а að fara (to go)
ó fór
ó fórum
a/е farið
various að láta (to let)
é lét
é létum
various látið
various að hlaupa (to run)
jó hljóp
ju/u hlupum
various hlaupið
Have in mind that in each of these patterns there are deviations from the pattern for some verbs and then there are verbs that do not quite follow a pattern.
Irregular verbs
The irregular verbs do some crazy stuff to form past tense, such as:
Infinitive
Present (1st person singular)
Past (1st person singular)
Past (3rd person plural)
Past participle
að eiga (to own)
á
átti
áttum
átt
að kunna (can)
kann
kunni
kunnum
kunnað
að mega (may, can)
má
mátti
máttum
mátt
að muna (to remеmber)
man
mundi
mundum
munað
að munu (will, shall)
mun
að skulu (will)
skal
að þurfa (to need)
þarf
þurfti
þurftum
þurft
að vera (to be)
er
var
vorum
verið
að vilja (to want)
vil
vildi
vildum
viljað
að vita (to know)
veit
vissi
vissum
vitað
Tips for learning
You need to learn the present tense verbs conjugation because you need to know which verbs belong to the A and I-categories, which most often take weak declension, and to the other categories, which most often take strong declension.
Focus first on the verbs that you would use most often in your everyday speech, describing your activities and hobbies.
Try to practice the conjugation with íslenska.is and see the patterns of vowel stem changes. You can also pick a random verb and try to conjugate it in your notebook. If you remember easier when writing, this might be a good way to get used to conjugate the verbs. You can then check the right conjugation in bin.arnastofnun.is.
Think of some sentences, check the words that you need in the dictionary and then try to conjugate the verb in the sentence. Try to have some fun – think about some crazy stories.
Write sentences in the present tense and then turn them into past tense sentences.
Learn the irregular verbs by heart – there is just no other way.
The present tense is one of the two simple tenses in Icelandic. As with the nouns, the verbs are divided into categories and it can not be determined only by the infinitive to which category the verb belongs to since most verbs end in -a.
The names of the categories refer to the endings of the verbs included in them in the third person singular.
The verbs are either weak or strong, depending on the way they form the past tense. In strong verbs, a vowel change in the stem occurs, while in weak verbs a suffix is added to the stem. Аpart from the division of strong and weak verbs, which is clear, the classification of verbs by categories is organized in different ways so you can see the verbs organized in different number and type of categories.
I-hljóðvarp (I-umlaut)
There are a lot of vowel stem changes, happening in the first, second and third person singular:
a, o, ö → e
að fara → ég fer
að koma → ég kem
að slökkva → ég slekk
jó, jú, ú → ý
að bjóða → ég býð
að ljúga → ég lýg
að búa → ég bý
á → æ
að fá → ég fæ
að ná → ég næ
au → ey
að hlaupa → ég hleyp
U-hljóðvarp (U-umlaut)
a → ö in first person plural, because of the -um suffix:
ég tala → við tölum
Category I (A-category)
Persóna
að tala (to speak, to tell)
Ég
tal-a
Þú
tal-ar
Hann/hún/það
tal-аr
Við
töl-um
Þið
tal-ið
Þeir/Þær/Þau
tala
Category II (I-category)
Persóna
að læra (to learn)
Ég
lær-i
Þú
lær-ir
Hann/hún/það
lær-ir
Við
lær-um
Þið
lær-ið
Þeir/Þær/Þau
lær-a
Category III (UR-category)
Persóna
að koma (to come)
Ég
kem
Þú
kem-ur
Hann/hún/það
kem-ur
Við
kom-um
Þið
kom-ið
Þeir/Þær/Þau
kom-a
Category IV (stem ends in s or r)
Persóna
að lesa (to read)
að fara (to go)
Ég
les
fer
Þú
les-t
fer-ð
Hann/hún/það
les
fer
Við
les-um
för-um
Þið
les-ið
far-ið
Þeir/Þær/Þau
les-a
far-a
Category V (stem ends in a vowel or j)
Persóna
að þvo (to wash)
að skilja (to understand)
að segja (to say)
Ég
þvæ
skil
seg-i
Þú
þvæ-rð
skil-ur
seg-ir
Hann/hún/það
þvæ-r
skil-ur
seg-ir
Við
þvo-um
skil-j-um
seg-j-um
Þið
þvo-ið
skil-j-ið
seg-ið
Þeir/Þær/Þau
þvo
skil-j-a
seg-j-a
Note that j in second person plural disappears if there is a g or a k in the stem (að segja, að reykja).
In other classifications, the last three categories are unified in one category, called O-category.
It doesn’t actually matter how you will learn them, just choose what seems the best structured one to you.
I will once again recommend the exercises in íslenska.iz as a good way to get used to the endings. If you want to see all forms of a verb, then use bin.arnastofnun.is, where you can see the conjugation of a verb in all tenses, moods, and voices.
It is always nice to get a glimpse of the full picture. This is why I decided to first make an overview of the verbs (tenses, moods, voices) and then continue with separate posts with details for each of these aspects.
Tenses
There are only two simple tenses in Icelandic – simple present and simple past (nútið og þátíð):
Nútíð: Ég hleyp á hverjum degi. (I run everyday.)
Þátíð: Ég hljóp í gær. (I ran yesterday.)
All other tenses are formed with auxiliary constructions and form sagnasambönd (compound verb phrases), most often including the auxiliary verbs:
að vera (to be)*
Nútíð: Ég er að lesa bók núna. (I am reading a book now.)
Þátíð: Ég var að lesa bók í gær. (I was reading a book yesterday.)
Þátíð: Ég var að lesa bók þegar þú komst heim. (I was reading a book when you came home.)
að ætla (to intend, to be going to do something)*
Ég ætla að fara í bíó. (I intend to go to a movie.)
að munu (will, shall)**
Hann mun koma á morgun. (He will come tomorrow.)
að skulu (will, shall – could be promising and threatening)**
Ég skal vaska upp. (I will do the dishes.)
Other auxiliary verbs in compound verb phrases that do not serve as constructions, functioning as tenses, but are often used are:
að mega (may, can)**
að vilja (to want)**
að eiga (to own)*
að verða (to become)*
að þurfa (to need)*
These constructions require:
*auxiliary verb+að+infinitive
**auxiliary verb+infinitive
Ópersónulegar sagnir (Impersonal verbs)
If there is an impersonal verb in the sentence, the subject is the receiver of the action and it is in accusative or dative, while the verb is always in the third person.
Let’s take for example the verb að dreyma (to dream). If you want to say: I dream to go to Iceland, you wouldn’t say Ég dreymi að fara til Íslands, using nominative for the subject and conjugating the verb in the first person. Að dreyma requires the subject to be in accusative and because it is an impersonal verb, the verb should be in the third person. The correct sentence would be: Mig dreymir um að fara til Íslands.
If we try to translate it into English literally, it would sound strange: It dreams to me of going to Iceland, but the actual translation is: I dream of going to Iceland.
The impersonal verbs are most often used to express emotions, feelings, needs, ideas, mental state.
In English, the impersonal verbs are used often in weather descriptions (it rains, it snows and so on).
Moods
nafnháttur (infinitive)
The infinitive of the verb is basically the name of the verb, its main form. In sentences the infinitive is most commonly used in compound phrases:
Ég er að borða. (I am eating.)
framsöguháttur (indicative mood)
This mood is used to express facts, statements, opinions, to ask questions. It is called ‘the mood of reality’.
Hann vinnur. (He works)
Ég mun koma. (I will come)
boðháttur (imperative mood)
This mood forms commands and requests.
Segðu mér sögu! (Tell me a story!)
Biddu adeins! (Wait a minute!)
Du, ðu or tu are added to the stem of the verb, depending on which is the last letter of the stem.
This mood is used in cases of uncertainty, assumption, possibility, hope, indirect speech, condition, politeness.
Gætir þú sagt mér hvað klukkan er? (Could you tell me what time is it?)
Hún sagði að hann færi í bruðkaupið. (She said that he would go to the wedding.)
The subjunctive mood subdivides into viðtengingarháttur nútíðar (subjunctive mood of the present) and viðtengingarháttur þátíðar (subjunctive mood of the past).
lýsingarháttur (descriptive mood)
The descriptive mood can also be in the present (lýsingarháttur nútíðar) and in the past (lýsingarháttur þátíðar).
The descriptive mood in the present is usually used with the verb að vera.
Hún er sitjandi. (She is sitting.)
Þau eru standandi. (They are standing.)
The verbs in this mood end in -andi. It is important to make a difference between the descriptive voice and the construction að vera+infinitive. The descriptive voice cannot be used to describe actions, which are being performed at the moment.
The descriptive mood in the past is used with the verbs hafa, geta and vera (og verða)+ past participle.
Ég hef spilað borðspil. (I have played board games.)
Ég get keyrt bíl. (I can drive a car.)
The participle after hafa and geta has one form that does not undergo declension.
The participle after vera and verða is declined according to the gender and number and in most cases functions as an adjective or can express passiveness:
Hún er elskuð af kærastanum sínum. (She is loved by her boyfriend.)
Hann er elskaður. (He is loved.)
Voices:
germynd (active voice) – the subject is doing the action: Hann kyssir hana. (He kisses her.)
miðmynd (middle voice) – the subject both performs and receives the action: Þau kyssast. (They kiss each other.)
þolmynd (passive voice) – the action is being performed upon the subject: Hún er kysst. (She is kissed.)
When I read that there are only two simple tenses in Icelandic, I thought that this is completely fair because the nouns are hard enough, so at least the verbs may be a little less complex. When all of the above was presented to me, I understood it was all just a wishful thinking. I guess there is nothing easy about Icelandic after all! Still not impossible to be learned though.
There are hundreds of different sounds and when babies are born, they are able to distinguish all of these sounds! Do you envy them? I certainly do. Unfortunately, over time the babies “specialize” in the sounds of their native language and they begin losing the ability to distinguish the sounds that do not belong to it.
If only my parents had exposed me to the sounds of tons of languages when I have been a baby… I suppose that would have helped me with the Icelandic pronunciation, but since this is not the case, let’s see what are the first steps to master it!
I would first like to recommend you one video from the You tube channel of Jackson Crawford. It’a all very well explained and the best way to make yourself familiar with the pronunciation is to actually listen to the sounds:
If you are interested in Old Norse culture, language, literature and mythology, this channel will be a paradise for you. It’s amazing that this man has decided and has taken the time to share his in-depth knowledge of these subjects with all of us.
There’a also this sweet video of little vikings (Icelandic boys), pronouncing the Icelandic alphabet:
Colloquial Icelandic has free audio online and the first files are dedicated to the pronunciation. This might be useful even if you don’t have the textbook and you do not consider buying it, because even the exposure to the sounds can make a difference.
The alphabet
It is good to memorize the alphabet because this is the letter order that you will see in the dictionary so this will help you to find the words you are looking for faster:
Aa (a) – að tala (to speak) as in park
Áá (á) -að fá (to get) as in cloud
Bb (bé) – unvoiced b, close to p – brauð (bread) as in brother
Dd (dé) – also unvoiced, close to t- draugur (ghost) as in day
Ðð (eð)* – th sound – maður (man) as in then
Ee (e) – að gleyma (to forget) as in pet
Éé (é) – bréf (letter) as in yet
Ff (eff) – að fara (to go) as in free; a v sound between vowels or after a vowel – stofa (living room) as in a vow; fl and fn are pronounced like a p – Keflavík, að safna (Кeflavík, to collect ) as in play
Gg (gé) – gjöf (gift) as in garden; It is pronounced in the back of the oral cavity when followed by t (unvoiced) and when between vowels/the last letter of a word/next to r or ö (voiced)
Hh (há) – hestur (horse) as in here; if followed by v, it is pronounced like k as in kindness – hvað (what) is pronounced kvað
Ii (i) – að skrifa (to write) as in ring
Íí (í) – ís (ice) as in sheep
Jj (joð) – að bjóða (to invite, to offer) as in yes
Kk (ká) – að koma (to come) as in crown, park
Ll (ell) – að elska (to love) as in lake;
Mm (emm) – móðir (mother) as in milk
Nn (enn) – að ná (to get) as in night
Oo (o) – stofa (living room) as in rock
Óó (ó) – króna (ISK) as in so
Pp (pé) – pakka (package) as in pretty
Rr (err) – hundur (dog) as in road, but r is rolled
Ss (ess) – að hugsa (to think) as in past
Tt (té) – tré (tree) as in time
Uu (u) – it is often compared to French u, close to English oo in too – ormur (worm)
Úú (ú) – útvarp (radio) as in you
Vv (vaff) – að vona (to hope) as in very
Xx (ex) – sex (six) as in fox
Yy (yfsilon y) – same as Icelandic i
Ýý (yfsilon ý) – same as Icelandic í
Þþ (þorn)* – th sound – þetta (this) as in Thursday
Ææ (æ) – að ætla (to intend) as in mine
Öö (ö) – the vowel sound preceding r in girl/ u in fur, but it is pronounced with more rounded lips and according to my observations more in the middle/in the front of the mouth, not in the back. The closest sound to it in my native language, Bulgarian, is ъ, but again with rounded lips in the front of the mouth- björn (bear) as in fur
There are also four foreign letters, which appear in some words: c (sé), q (kú), w (tvöfalt vaff) and z (seta)
*To see the difference between eð and þorn, pronounce then and Thursday. Observe the position of your tongue and the softness of the sound.
Letter combinations
au – laugardagur (Saturday)- Icelandic öi
ei/еy – ey, nei (island, no) – ay sound as in day
Double-l and double-n
Double-l is pronounced like tl. Allt (everything) is pronounced like atlt. This t-insertion does not happen in loan words and nicknames.
T-insertion also occurs when double-n is preceded by accented vowel or the letter combinations au, ei and ey. In all other cases this insertion does not occur:
steinn (stone) is pronounced steitn, because double-n is preceded by the ei letter combination
fínn (elegant) is pronounced fitn, because í is accented.
hann (he) is pronounced han, because a is not accented (á) and there is no special letter combination before the double-n
Preaspiration
An [h]-like sound precedes doubled p, t and k. It is not a hard sound, it is a breath of air:
að stoppa (to stop) is pronounced stohpa
þetta (this) is pronounced þehta
ekkert (nothing) is pronounced ehkert
This also happens before pl, pn, tl, tn, kl, kn when in between vowels.
The consonant clusters sl, sn, rl, rn
T is inserted between the two consonants:
snjókarl (snowman) is pronounced snjókartl
barnalæknir (pediatrician) is pronounced bartnalæknir
asni (donkey) is pronounced astni
veisla (party) is pronounced veistla
You see sl, sn, rl and rn, but you pronounce stl, stn, rtl and rtn.
The vowels before the consonant clusters ng and nk
Vowels are pronounced differently when they are followed by ng or nk:
а → á
i and y → í (i and y are elongated)
u → English ou as in you
e → ei
ö → au
Stress
One important thing to mention is that in Icelandic stress (the emphasis we give to a certain syllable in a word when speaking) is always on the first syllable and in longer words is possible to have secondary stress.
Time to practice
If you are not in Iceland and you don’t have the chance to have a conversation with an Icelandic speaker, then I recommend watching these videos from http://www.ruv.is. Parts of the videos are transcribed below, so you can read and listen simultaneously.
While listening, you will begin noticing all of the aforementioned rules and changes, as well as the rhythm of speaking. If you have someone to talk to in Icelandic, that’s great!
Practicing pronunciation without having anyone to speak to and to correct you, however, is a hard task. If this is the case, you can listen to audio materials and try to pronounce the words you have heard. Find some book with audio CDs, try the Alaric Hall’s free mp3 course for beginners and some of the Memrise’s courses with audio like this one.