Grammar terminology and abbreviations

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.

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.

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.