{"id":3064,"date":"2014-03-31T22:05:08","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T22:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=3064"},"modified":"2014-03-31T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T22:05:08","slug":"not-just-a-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/03\/31\/not-just-a-number\/","title":{"rendered":"Not just a number."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"agenumbers2222\"<\/a>Explaining one’s age or the length of time that’s not measured with a clock (weeks, months, years etc.) in Icelandic is a mildly complex sport. My best advice for a student would be to just learn the example sentences by heart and use them until they come automatically; it takes some time but it’s far more efficient than trying to understand why things work the way they do first or to come up with some kind of a rule, Icelandic simply works the way it does. I’ll split this topic in two parts so that it’s easier to digest, so let’s start with some confusing word orders and new sets of numbers today!<\/p>\n

How old are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or as it’s said in Icelandic, “Hva\u00f0 ertu gamall\/g\u00f6mul?<\/em>” (= lit. transl. What are you old?)(You’ll have to choose the declension form of the adjective depending on the person’s gender that you’re asking, gamall<\/em> is for men, g\u00f6mul<\/em> for women) Icelandic way of asking basic questions differs often from the English one in a confusing way, there is f.ex. no way of asking someone’s age using the word “how”, because the Icelandic “hvernig<\/em>” only translates to “what kind\/which manner of”.<\/p>\n

There’s also the third declension form,\u00a0gamalt<\/em>, which you use if you f.ex. ask about the age of a child or any other object that’s a neuter: “Hva\u00f0 er barni\u00f0 \u00feitt gamalt?<\/em>” (= How old is your child?) Always keep in mind that in Icelandic the real gender of the object does not necessarily matter, and that the declension depends only on the word itself – therefore hundur<\/em> (= dog) always gets masculine declension regardless of the sex of the dog, and same goes for hestur<\/em> (= horse) and k\u00f6ttur<\/em> (= cat). “Hva\u00f0 eru hundarnir \u00feinir gamlir?” “Hinn er \u00feriggja \u00e1ra gamall en t\u00edkin er tveggja \u00e1ra g\u00f6mul.”<\/em> (= How old are your dogs? This one’s three years old but the female is two.*)<\/p>\n

One’s year’s, two’s year’s… what the…?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another problem for a language learner is that the numbers 1-4 get declension forms, and if your age ends with one of them you’ll have to use eignarfall<\/em> (= genitive) form. Example:<\/p>\n

\"agenumbers1\"<\/p>\n

“Hva\u00f0 er h\u00fan Hulda g\u00f6mul?<\/em>” “H\u00fan er \u00ferj\u00e1t\u00edu og fj\u00f6gurra \u00e1ra g\u00f6mul.<\/em>” (= “How old is Hulda?” “She’s 34 years old.”) The feminine pronoun is not completely necessary but it adds stress to the topic. If you haven’t been discussing Hulda before but apropos of nothing want to know her age, the extra pronoun makes the question sound more natural and friendly: “About that Hulda, how old is she?”<\/p>\n

\"agenumbers2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, in just about a week I’ll be 35, at which part I no longer need the genitive – I’ll simply be \u00ferj\u00e1t\u00edu og fimm<\/em>. Or, if I feel self-conscious about my exact age, \u00fer\u00edtug<\/em> (= female in her thirties, masc. form is\u00a0\u00fer\u00edtugur<\/em>). So the upside to my expected 35th year crisis is that at least I’m looking at five years of ease in telling my age! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

\"agenumbers3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Planning to stay long?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another, different way of telling the time in years is if someone asks you f.ex. how long you’ve been living at place X:<\/p>\n

“Hva\u00f0 ertu b\u00fain\/n a\u00f0 vera lengi \u00e1 \u00cdslandi?”<\/em> (= How long have you been in Iceland? – lit. transl. What are you finished being long in Iceland?) The question itself is another one with complicated structure, but just learn it by heart and you’ll be good.<\/p>\n

If the number you use is or ends at 1-4 it will always be in \u00feolfall<\/em> (= accusative):<\/p>\n

“\u00c9g er b\u00fain a\u00f0 vera h\u00e9r \u00ed \u00ferj\u00fa og h\u00e1lft \u00e1r. Vinurinn minn er b\u00fainn a\u00f0 vera h\u00e9r \u00ed tv\u00f6 \u00e1r og fj\u00f3ra m\u00e1nu\u00f0i<\/em>.“<\/em> (= I (feminine) have been here for three and a half years. My friend (gender somewhat unspecified, though the fact that the word is masculine hints more at men – it can technically speaking also be a female friend, but usually Icelanders prefer to use the word vinkona<\/em>\u00a0for female friends) has been here for two years and four months.) **<\/p>\n

In the same vein you can ask about potential amount of time, just using another verb:\u00a0“Hva\u00f0 \u00e6tlardu a\u00f0 b\u00faa h\u00e9r lengi?”<\/em>\u00a0(= How long are you planning to live here?) You can also use the same form regardless of the amount of time asked, for example the question “Hva\u00f0 ertu b\u00fainn a\u00f0 bi\u00f0a h\u00e9r lengi?”<\/em> (= How long have you (masculine) been waiting here?) and it can be answered using the same formula as well: “\u00c9g er b\u00fainn a\u00f0 bi\u00f0a h\u00e9r \u00ed tvo t\u00edma, helv\u00edtis f\u00edflin ykkar!”<\/em> (= I’ve waited here for two hours you damn idiots!)<\/p>\n