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Subjunctive mood; it can be easy to use! Posted by hulda on Apr 8, 2013
Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a way of telling when to use this form of verbs in Icelandic? Something that would always, or almost always work for you, and that the exceptions would be easy to tell apart? Here’s the good news – there are such rules! Here’s the bad news – it…
Gleðilega páska! Happy Easter! Posted by hulda on Mar 31, 2013
It’s not a bad deal at all to be in Iceland during the Easter, especially if judged by the chocolate eggs! Ranging from huge to gigantic to ridiculous in size and done in many flavours (my boyfriend’s egg is dark chocolate, mine’s milk chocolate with bits of licorice in it), they have been dominating most grocery stores…
Traveling by bus in Iceland. Posted by hulda on Mar 24, 2013
Remember how just two weeks ago we got so much snow we ended up stuck in our house? It’s all gone now. Spring seems to have arrived to Iceland all of a sudden. Days are growing longer, ravens are gathering in large groups (I hear it’s called “unkindness of ravens” in English) before they head…
Icelanders love books! Posted by hulda on Mar 15, 2013
Another eventful week just went by so quickly I hardly noticed the time passing. Some of it was spent in research, some in language study, and some – just by reading books I did not need to read. Fellow book lovers will understand: just because some books aren’t on your course list does not mean…
Reykjavík, one week in pictures: storm, snowstorm, ash fall. Posted by hulda on Mar 10, 2013
Last week really gave us a proper taste of Icelandic weather at its worst! Starting with a storm on Monday and growing into a snowstorm that began on Wednesday morning, ending up with an ash fall. The snowing was no ordinary kind either. We got so much snow that the schools were closed and guess…
Subjunctive mood and how it’s used, part 1. Posted by hulda on Feb 28, 2013
Viðtengingarháttur, the subjunctive mood, is an often used verb form in Icelandic as it not only shows the typical subjunctive mood unreality – wishes, hopes, suspicions, plans, possibilities etc. – but is necessary for the most common polite phrases. Viðtengingarháttur -forms exist in both present and past tense. The word itself is a compound word…
Loki’s children. Posted by hulda on Feb 20, 2013
“You can choose any text you like, except for poems or song lyrics.” The first translation course that the University of Iceland offers is typically on the first semester of the third year. It takes two years of studying Icelandic before we have gathered enough vocabulary and knowledge on Iceland and its culture to be…