In Icelandic, the “five senses” are called “skilningarvitin fimm,” which is, lovely enough, “the understanding/perception senses”.

 

The five senses are unchanged in Icelandic (although one might argue that the natives have a flair for seeing those pesky elves we talked about). They are:

1. Sjónskyn – Sight
2. Heyrnarskyn – Hearing, auditory
3. Snertiskyn – Touch
4. Efnaskyn – Sense of smell and the sense of taste (“the chemical senses”)
   1. Bragðskyn
   2. Lyktarskyn

 

With these sense you can:

Að sjá – to see

Að horfa á – to watch

að stara á – to stare at

að líta á – look at

að blikka – to blink

að líta einhvern (accusative) hornauga – look askance at something

 

 

Að heyra – to hear

að hlusta [á eitthvað (accusative)] – to listen [to somebody]

hár – loud

lágvær -soft

hljóð – NOUN – noise/sound and quiet – this is a peculiar word because it can mean either sound or quiet depending on the context.

hávaði – noise (noisiness)

 

Að snerta – to touch

This one is fairly straightforward, though often used with the preposition ‘á’. As you see below, one most often uses á when touching an object rather than a person. 

— að snerta á einhverju (dative) is to touch something.

–að snerta einhvern is to touch somebody)

að þreifa á e-u – to touch something

mjúkur – soft

hjúfur – rough

 

Að finna bragð af – to taste of something

This one is a bit strange because taste is expressed indirectly. So one doesn´t “taste” something so much as one finds/perceives a type of taste .

–Þeir finni beiskt og vont bragð af gúrkum

–Ég finn ekkert bragð af matnum.

Að bragðast – something tastes of (e.g., mjólkur bragðast súr – the milk tastes sour)

Súr – sour

Sætur – sweet

Beiskur- bitter

Saltur – salty

Hvernig smakkast þetta? – How does that taste?

Smakkar! – it´s good!

 

Að finna lykt af e-u, að þefa af e-u – to smell something

–Ég finn stanslaust lykt af salti! – I keep tasting salt!

–Hann finnur lykt af blóði – He tasted blood.

Einhverju (dative) lyktar vel/illa – something smells good-bad

— Blómið lyktar vel. – The flower smells good.

Lykt – F – smell

Ólykt – F – stench, odor

Angan – F – pleasant smell

Ilmur – M – aroma
–ilmvatn -N – perfume

Þefur – M – scent

Daunn – M – stench

Stækja – F – a powerful, unpleasant odor