Archive for 'Icelandic grammar'
The Magic of Neologisms in Icelandic Posted by Meg on Apr 30, 2017
One of my favorite parts of learning and speaking Icelandic is creating my own words. It feels empowering, like I’ve autonomously used this incredibly complex language I’ve set myself the task of learning. “Neologisms” are newly created words/expressions (sometimes, a new usage of an existent word/expression). And spinning them is my daytime substitute for dreaming…
Let’s Get Up Close And Personal With Impersonal Verbs Posted by Meg on Mar 20, 2017
Impersonal verbs are not unique to Icelandic (e.g., German “mir ist kalt” [to me it is cold] rather than “ich bin kalt” [I am cold]), but they are perhaps comparatively common. Impersonal in this case means that the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, instead of the do-er. The predicate…
Red Christmas, Ergo White Easter: Snjóflóð 2017 Posted by Meg on Feb 28, 2017
When Snjóflóð 2017 (“avalanche”) hit Reykjavik this past weekend, I started to think about a blog I’d prepared but not published this past December. And I decided to resurrect it from the pile. The weekend felt odd to me – like the snow had come too late. And then I remembered the Icelandic saying, rauð…
Stumbling Through Strong Masculine Nouns, Or: There’s More Than One Good Way To Decline Posted by Meg on Jan 25, 2017
Today I’d like to introduce you to a new noun class. They’re generally called “strong” nouns, or masculine, feminine, and neuter II and III. I’m just going to go into masculine II and III nouns today. Fair warning: it’s a little dry. So the declension pattern you’ve likely seen so far is follows nouns…
Ready, steady, rhyme! Posted by hulda on Nov 10, 2016
This blog post won’t have anything political in it. Instead I’m going to fill it with poetry and cute animals, because every now and then everyone needs at least a few moments of something calming, harmless and good in their lives. Besides, I believe that looking at pictures of cute animals is good for the…
Achoo! Posted by hulda on Oct 20, 2016
Autumn is here, which means the flu season is here as well. Now’s the time when students going to class will find their classes abruptly canceled with only a note “Tíminn fellur niður vegna veikinda” (= the class is canceled due to illness) stuck to the door. The lucky ones may have seen an…
Who lives where? Posted by hulda on Oct 6, 2016
Where does a Dani come from? What about a Norðmaður (= north man)? In which country would a Spánverji live in? Icelandic is interesting enough when it comes to creating adjective forms for countries, but it truly gets mindboggling when we get to nationalities! Let’s have an easy vocabulary studying day today and have a…