Prepositions

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 the presence 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.

Word order and questions

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.

Adjectives: Overview

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.

Gender and definite article (kyn og ákveðinn greinir)

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 tense (Þátíð)

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

1. 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.
2. Focus first on the verbs that you would use most often in your everyday speech, describing your activities and hobbies.
3. 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. 
4. 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.
5. Write sentences in the present tense and then turn them into past tense sentences.
6. Learn the irregular verbs by heart – there is just no other way.

Present tense (Nútíð)

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.

Verbs: Overview

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.

• viðtengingarháttur (subjunctive mood/conditionals)

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.

Cases: Declension patterns

The bad news: There is no way to predict how a noun will be declined. The group to which a noun belongs is defined by the declension endings in genitive singular and nominative plural. This is why these endings are always written down in the dictionaries for every noun. So, it’s a paradox – in order to know how to decline a noun, you should already know its declension.

Once you know the patterns, you can make some assumptions, based on the gender and the nominative singular ending, but there are just no rules, based on these characteristics. You will be sure only when you check in the dictionary.

More bad news: There is no easy way to learn the declensions. Especially when you are not in Iceland and you are not surrounded by the language, which would make the process much easier.

In such a case the advice that I have for you is:

1. Learn the declension endings by groups and try to remember them as patterns.
2. Write down in your notebook/make your own flashcards for one noun per group and try to remember it by heart so you can use it for the other nouns in the group, which follow the same pattern.
3. Consider the variations in a group not as a new pattern to remember, but as the same pattern with slight variations.
4. The dative and genitive plural are almost the same for all categories (-um and -a). This makes the number of endings your brain has to remember fewer! Hurray!
5. Go to this site: https://islenzka.is/aefingar/noun_table.html. The interactive tables are a good way to memorize the patterns and to make your own predictions and then see if they were true or not. After you become good at it, you can take the noun declension quiz from the list with exercises and begin practicing the declensions.

These tables are also good to memorize the gender of some nouns and the plural endings. The site is the most useful one I have found so far when it comes to grammar.

Before starting with the paradigms, check out this post, where all of the grammatical terms and abbreviations are explained.

Declension paradigms

A noun is declined as an ending is added to its stem.

There is no official classification of the noun classes. One noun can belong to one class in some classification and to another in other classification, depending on how they are organized. All classifications of the noun classes are however defined by the genitive singular and nominative plural endings.

The nouns are divided into strong and weak nouns and undergo strong and weak declension (sterk beyging og veik beyging).

WEAK NOUNS

Kk.,genitive singular -a/-ja, nominative plural -ar/-ur

Noun: tími (time) and nemandi (student)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	tím-i	-i	tím-ar	-ar
þf.	tím-a	-a	tím-a	-a
þgf.	tím-a	-a	tím-um	-um
ef.	tím-a	-a	tím-a	-a

• I-hljóðvarp

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	nemand-i	-i	nemend-ur	-ur
þf.	nemand-a	-a	nemend-ur	-ur
þgf.	nemand-a	-a	nemend-um	-um
ef.	nemand-a	-a	nemend-a	-a

Kvk.,genitive singular -u, nominative plural -ur/ genitive singular -i (-is), nominative plural without ending or -ar/-ir.

Noun: blússa (blouse) and lygi (lie)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	blúss-a	-a	blúss-ur	-ur
þf.	blúss-u	-u	blúss-ur	-ur
þgf.	blúss-u	-u	blúss-um	-um
ef.	blúss-u	-u	blúss-a	-a

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	lyg-i	-i	lyg-ar	-ar
þf.	lyg-i	-i	lyg-ar	-ar
þgf.	lyg-i	-i	lyg-um	-um
ef.	lyg-i	-i	lyg-a	-a

Hk., genitive singular -a, nominative plural -u, genitive plural -na (exception: hjarta)

Noun: lunga (lung)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	lung-a	-a	lung-u	-u
þf.	lung-a	-a	lung-u	-u
þgf.	lung-a	-a	lung-um	-um
ef.	lung-a	-a	lung-na	-na

STRONG NOUNS

A-category, kk., genitive singular -s /-ar, nominative plural -ar

Noun: hestur (horse)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	hest-ur	-ur	hest-ar	-ar
þf.	hest	–	hest-a	-a
þgf.	hest-i	-i (-)	hest-um	-um
ef.	hest-s	-s	hest-a	-a

A-category, kvk. – genitive singular -r /-ar, nominative plural -ar

Noun: vél (machine)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	vél	–	vél-ar	-ar
þf.	vél	–	vél-ar	-ar
þgf.	vél	–	vél-um	-um
ef.	vél-ar	-ar	vél-a	-a

A-category, kvk. variations

• nouns, ending in ing –a u is added to the accusative and dative singulars

Noun: kenning (kenning)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	kenning	–	kenning-ar	-ar
þf.	kenning-u	–u	kenning-ar	-ar
þgf.	kenning-u	–u	kenning-um	-um
ef.	kenning-ar	-ar	kenning-a	-a

• V-innskot

Noun: stöð (station)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	stöð	–	stöð-v-ar	v-ar
þf.	stöð	–	stöð-v-ar	v-ar
þgf.	stöð	–	stöð-v-um	v-um
ef.	stöð-v-ar	v-ar	stöð-v-a	v-a

• J-innskot

Noun: ey (island)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	ey	–	ey-j-ar	j-ar
þf.	ey	–	ey-j-ar	j-ar
þgf.	ey	–	ey-j-um	j-um
ef.	ey-j-ar	j-ar	ey-j-a	j-a

A-category, hk. – genitive singular -s, nominative plural without ending

In some classifications, the neutral strong nouns do not belong to a certain group and they are rather a separate class on their own.

Noun: orð (word)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	orð	–	orð	–
þf.	orð	–	orð	–
þgf.	orð-i	-i	orð-um	-um
ef.	orð-s	-s	orð-a	-a

A-category, hk. variations

• U-hljóðvarp

Noun: fat (garment)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	fat	–	föt	–
þf.	fat	–	föt	–
þgf.	fat-i	-i	föt-um	-um
ef.	fat-s	-s	fat-a	-a

• brottfall

Noun: veður (weather)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	veður	–	veður	–
þf.	veður	–	veður	–
þgf.	veðr-i	-i	veðr-um	-um
ef.	veður-s	-s	veðr-a	-a

• J-innskot

Noun: kyn (gender)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	kyn	–	kyn	–
þf.	kyn	–	kyn	–
þgf.	kyn-i	-i	kyn-j-um	j-um
ef.	kyn-s	-s	kyn-j-a	j-a

• samdráttur

Noun: tré (tree)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	tré	–	tré	–
þf.	tré	–	tré	–
þgf.	tré	–	trjá-m	-m
ef.	tré-s	-s	trjá-a	-a

I-category, kk. – genitive singular -s /-ar/-jar, nominative plural -ir

Noun: smiður (smith)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	smið-ur	-ur	smið-ir	-ir
þf.	smið	–	smið-i	-i
þgf.	smið	-(i)	smið-um	-um
ef.	smið-s	-s (ar)	smið-a	-a

I-category, kk. variations

• J-innskot

Noun: bær (town, city)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	bæ-r	-r	bæ-ir	-ir
þf.	bæ	–	bæ-i	-i
þgf.	bæ-i	-i	bæ-j-um	j-um
ef.	bæ-j-ar	j-ar	bæ-j-а	j-a

• What is seems like I-hljóðvarp: о→y, but it is originally A-hljóðvarp, since the original vowel was u changed to o

Noun: sonur (son)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	son-ur	-ur	syn-ir	-ir
þf.	son	–	syn-i	-i
þgf.	syn-i	-i	son-um	-um
ef.	son-ar	-ar	son-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp
  ö→ e → a → e→ ö → a

Noun: völlur (field)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	völl-ur	-ur	vell-ir	-ir
þf.	völl	–	vell-i	-i
þgf.	vell-i	-i	völl-um	-um
ef.	vall-ar	-ar	vall-а	-a

I-category, kvk. – genitive singular -ar, nominative plural -ir

Noun: mynd (picture)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	mynd	–	mynd-ir	-ir
þf.	mynd	–	mynd-ir	-ir
þgf.	mynd	–	mynd-um	-um
ef.	mynd-ar	-ar	mynd-а	-a

I-category, kvk. variations:

• U-hljóðvarp

Noun: gjöf (present)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	gjöf	–	gjaf-ir	-ir
þf.	gjöf	–	gjaf-ir	-ir
þgf.	gjöf	–	gjöf-um	-um
ef.	gjaf-ar	-ar	gjaf-а	-a

• U-hljóðvarp

Noun: verslun (store, shop)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	verslun	–	verslan-ir	-ir
þf.	verslun	–	verslan-ir	-ir
þgf.	verslun	–	verslun-um	-um
ef.	verslun-ar	-ar	verslan-а	-a

R-category, kk. – nominative plural -ur

• brottfall

Nouns: fingur (finger) and vetur (winter)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	fingur	–	fingur	–
þf.	fingur	–	fingur	–
þgf.	fingr-i	-i	fingr-um	-um
ef.	fingur-s	-s	fingr-а	-a

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	vetur	–	vetur	–
þf.	vetur	–	vetur	–
þgf.	vetr-i	-i	vetr-um	-um
ef.	vetr-ar	-ar	vetr-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp and U-hljóðvarp

Nouns: fótur (foot) and maður (man)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	fótur	-ur	fæt-ur	-ur
þf.	fót	–	fæt-ur	-ur
þgf.	fæt-i	-i	fót-um	-um
ef.	fót-ar	-ar	fót-а	-a

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	maður	–	menn	–
þf.	mann	–	menn	–
þgf.	mann-i	-i	mönn-um	-um
ef.	mann-s	-s	mann-а	-a

R-category, kvk. – genitive singular -ar /-ur,/-r, nominative plural -ur /-r

• I-hljóðvarp

Noun: bók (book)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	bók	–	bæk-ur	-ur
þf.	bók	–	bæk-ur	-ur
þgf.	bók	–	bók-um	-um
ef.	bók-ar	-ar	bók-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp and U-hljóðvarp

Noun: tönn (tooth)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	tönn	–	tenn-ur	-ur
þf.	tönn	–	tenn-ur	-ur
þgf.	tönn	–	tönn-um	-um
ef.	tann-ar	-ar	tann-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp, semdráttur

Noun: tá (toe)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	tá	–	tæ-r	-r
þf.	tá	–	tæ-r	-r
þgf.	tá	–	tá-m	-m
ef.	tá-ar	-ar	tá-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp

Noun: nótt (night)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	nótt	–	næt-ur	-ur
þf.	nótt	–	næt-ur	-ur
þgf.	nótt	–	nótt-um	-um
ef.	næt-ur	-ur	nótt-а	-a

• I-hljóðvarp, semdráttur

Noun: kýr (cow)

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	kýr	–	ký-r	-r
þf.	kú	–	ký-r	-r
þgf.	kú	–	kú-m	-m
ef.	ký-r	-r	kú-а	-a

R-category, family names

• brottfall

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	systir	–	systur	–
þf.	systur	–	systur	–
þgf.	systur	–	systr-um	-um
ef.	systur	–	systr-a	-a

• brottfall, I-hljóðvarp

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	móðir	–	mæður	–
þf.	móður	–	mæður	–
þgf.	móður	–	mæðr-um	-um
ef.	móður	–	mæðr-a	-a

• brottfall, I-hljóðvarp and U-hljóðvarp

	eintala		fleirtala
nf.	faðir	–	feður	–
þf.	föður	–	feður	–
þgf.	föður	–	feðr-um	-um
ef.	föður	–	feðr-a	-a

The last, but the most important thing: the declensions are hard and there are many irregularities, but do not despair and do not give up! It will all make sense someday (or at least I hope so).

P.S. If you wonder what a unicorn has in common with the grammatical cases, the answer is: not many things. I just decided to put a colorful and cheerful picture, because there are just too many tables in this post.

Cases: Introduction

If your native language doesn’t have grammatical cases, you may find the idea hard to understand at first, but it will make sense soon. Declensions will still be a nightmare for some time though.

First of all, what purpose do the cases serve? They represent the role of the words in a sentence. English is an analytic language, which means that the relationship between the words in a sentence is primarily conveyed by word order and helper words rather than inflections (changing the form of the words in order to indicate a different role). Icelandic, on the other hand, depends heavily on inflections and has 4 grammatical cases – nominative, accusative, dative and genitive (nefnifall, þolfall, þágufall og eignarfall). Nouns, pronouns, adjectives and some numerals are declined according to the gender, number and grammatical case.

The English language still has remnants of the Old English case system, which has also depended on inflections. The pronouns are often pointed out as remnants of this system. The pronouns cases are three – subjective, objective and possessive (corresponding to the nominative, accusative and genitive cases in Old English).

If you think of I, me and my like three forms of the same word (I), which represent different roles of the words in the sentence – subject, object and ownership, then you already have a good idea what the cases are. It’s just that in English these are exceptions and don’t apply to most of the nouns as opposed to Icelandic, where every noun is declined in the four cases.

Let’s take for example sentences in English and compare it with their Icelandic equivalents so you can see the difference:

• The dog is hungry.                    Hundurinn er svangur.
• I think about the dog.              Ég hugsa um hundinn.
• I gave food to the dog.             Ég gaf hundinum mat.
• This is the dog‘s owner.           Þetta er eigandi hundsins.

The declension of hundur is as it follows:

As you can see, the role of the dog in these sentences is as it follows: subject, direct object, indirect object, noun–main-noun relationship (in this case possession). In English, although the role is different, the form of the word remains the same. In Icelandic, on the other hand, the form changes in order to indicate the role of the word in these sentences. The definite article is being added to the declined form at the end of the word, but this is a topic for another post.

Now that you know what the function of the cases is, let’s take a look at how they are being used and what are the functions of each one of them.

Cases – main functions:

• Nefnifall (Nominative case )

It indicates the subject of the sentence – the person or thing, doing the action. If the verb is passive, it is the noun receiving the action. All nouns appear in the dictionary in the nominative case.

• Þolfall (Accusative case)

The accusative case is used for direct objects – nouns that are having something done to them. In order to find this noun in the sentence, you must ask the question “What?”

• Þágufall (Dative case)

The indirect object of a sentence is the recipient of the direct object. To find the indirect object, ask who the recipient of the direct object is.

• Eignarfall (Genitive case)

The genitive case usually indicates the relationship, which a noun has to the main noun in a sentence. This relationship could include possession, origin, compound words, reference, description, substance, elements. In English, these are usually conveyed by adding “’s” to the word or by preceding it with of.

You would think that knowing these functions is all you need. I will disappoint you – it is a good start, but some verbs and prepositions require specific cases and many times they are contradictory to the main functions of each of the cases.

So, to be able to use nouns in a sentence properly, you should know two things: which case to use and how to put the noun in the right form (to decline it).

Well, let’s talk about these monstrous declensions!