Archive for 'Icelandic grammar'
Icelandic Numbers 1 – 20 with video Posted by Transparent Language on Nov 7, 2012
If you’re new to Icelandic, we’ve created this simple table of Icelandic numbers from 1 to 20 just for you. We’ve also included a video with voice pronunciation. Listen to it a few times, and make sure to practice saying the words out loud too; this will really help you retain the information permanently. There are…
Here, there, trolls everywhere! Posted by hulda on Oct 12, 2012
Tröllið er þar / tröllið er þarna; tröllið er hér / tröllið er hérna: which sentences do you think should make you react faster? What about the difference between tröllið kemur héðan as opposed to tröllið kemur hingað? Of the first two examples both translate as “the troll is there” and the latter two as “the troll…
Drop it like it’s Ð, G, H, Þ or a vowel. Posted by hulda on Sep 30, 2012
The most confusing part of Icelandic may not actually be the grammar – although difficult – nor the spelling – it will eventually make sense – but the way Icelanders pronounce it during everyday conversations. Depending on the speaker the language may be riddled with words borrowed from English, severely mumbled or shortened to unrecognizable…
Forsetningarliðir + þolfall, prepositions + accusative Posted by hulda on Aug 25, 2012
Fréttin barst um allt landið. (= The news spread around the country.) It’s often difficult to tell exactly which case should be used in which context. At times Icelandic students face having to learn huge chunks of case-related grammar by heart, or gamble between two or more choices depending on the situation. Therefore it’s lucky…
Personal Pronouns Posted by sequoia on Jul 24, 2012
Here is a topic for complete beginners, something called “personal pronouns”. Words like “our”, and “yours” are also types of pronouns, but we’ll cover those later. *m (male), f (female), n (neuter). “Þið” is used as “you (multiple people)”, just as you would use “you guys/you all” in English. When talking to an individual, unknown…
A hot dog for Mr. Clinton. Posted by hulda on Jul 9, 2012
Today I put together a short grammar lesson with some easy rules on the use of hjá, við and með, three prepositions that can all be translated as “with”. The difficulty lies in the different nuances and usage of all three, and getting them mixed up will hardly ever work in a grammatical sense. And…
Months and Dates Posted by sequoia on Jun 26, 2012
Month names are easier to remember than the days of the week because they’re so similar to English. Month names aren’t capitalized, unless another capitalization rule overrides it (such as when they’re at the beginning of a sentence). This post is more useful in conjunction with the posts about days of the week, number post…