Tag Archives: Icelandic lessons
Getting understood in Iceland, part 1. Posted by hulda on Jan 9, 2013
A typical problem, when trying to use Icelandic to speak with the locals, is that for some reason they look at you quizzically and go “ha”* and you end up repeating yourself over and over again. Yet in the classroom or when talking with your teachers you never run into this same problem. Why is…
How to order coffee in Icelandic Posted by hulda on Nov 24, 2012
Icelanders are among the leading nations in the world when it comes to coffee consumption per capita. This means that no matter how small they are, every single town has at least three cafes, and that in Reykjavík there are so many of them that it’s hard to choose among them. Some serve a wide…
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…
Difficult sounds in Icelandic Posted by sequoia on Jul 14, 2012
First, I’d like to say these are all rules that have been taught to me – I’m not making up any rules based on my own observations. This post from earlier shows how to (approximately) pronounce the alphabet. If you’d just like to buy a book, I recommend “The Pronunciation of Modern Icelandic“, which is…