Tag Archives: beginner
How to romance a viking. Posted by hulda on Feb 11, 2015
You know what day is just around the corner, so let’s get prepared with some relevant vocabulary! The important days Valentínusardagur = Valentine’s Day. The tradition caught on in Iceland perhaps a little earlier than the rest of the Nordics, but since the country was occupied by the USA since the WW2 it may not be too surprising…
Dative in Icelandic: throw that ball! Posted by hulda on Jan 14, 2015
Genitive was covered in Holy genitive case in Icelandic, Batman! and I touched upon accusative in Prepositions + accusative, so let’s now look at the third one, the dative. Before we go on, one warning: Icelandic dative does not work exactly as dative is described to. For the most part þágufall closely resembles dative but…
Keeping that Icelandic-learning resolution. Posted by hulda on Jan 7, 2015
Hello again, dear readers, and welcome to the year 2015! It’s time to make some resolutions for the year – or maybe you’ve already made some? Any language learning -related ones? Anyone up to studying a rare Nordic language that’s about as close to Old Norse as can get? 😉 A new year’s resolution, nýársheit…
Angry, angry Icelanders. Posted by hulda on Nov 30, 2014
After a whole month of talking about fighting in the Medieval era I felt it’s time to see if anything’s changed in one thousand years. Are Icelanders still solving their problems by hacking parts off of their enemies? Should you carry an axe around just in case when visiting the country? Perhaps not, because one…
Witchcraft in Iceland. Posted by hulda on Oct 17, 2014
As October is halfway done what better time to write a little about witches? Icelandic ones that is, so alas the pretty ladies riding brooms won’t come into picture. The grand majority of Icelandic witches were male and though female ones did exist and were even punished for witchcraft, fact is that of all of…
Recipe for marital bliss. Posted by hulda on Sep 25, 2014
Want to bake something really, really Icelandic? Hjónabandssæla, “marital bliss”, is a perfect autumn treat! Before we go on I want to warn you that although “marital bliss” is something so deeply Icelandic that every Icelander will immediately recognize it, no two families actually bake it alike. You’ll be hard at work if you try…
Reykjavík ravens. Posted by hulda on Sep 18, 2014
Autumn, nothing makes its arrival clearer than seeing a familiar shape fly over Reykjavík, perch on lamp posts and sing – er, cronk – from the rooftops. Ravens are back in town after spending the long summer in the countryside, during which time their place in the city is claimed by seagulls. Now its their turn…