{"id":4302,"date":"2015-07-02T19:46:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T19:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2015-07-09T17:03:30","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T17:03:30","slug":"when-icelanders-fail-icelandic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2015\/07\/02\/when-icelanders-fail-icelandic\/","title":{"rendered":"When Icelanders fail Icelandic."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"3952984450_953c33c096_b\"<\/a>

Default State by Helga Weber at Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve often addressed the various problems a language learner might come across when learning the language, but sometimes it seems that Icelandic is not easy for the natives either. Despite all the efforts at preserving the language\u00a0it just tries to change itself\u00a0anyway, resulting in f.ex. \u00fe\u00e1gufallss\u00fdki<\/em> – the dative illness – where people will attempt to use a dative form instead of accusative. For once people who are studying the language have a slight upper hand, because while you’re learning you can keep\u00a0the Icelander-typical mistakes in mind and learn to not make them in the first place. Let’s have a look at the things Icelanders may struggle with.<\/p>\n

\u00de\u00e1gufallss\u00fdki<\/strong><\/p>\n

An often used example of this is the verb a\u00f0 langa<\/em> (= to want) because it demands the subjective in \u00feolfall<\/em> (= accusative). However, today a large amount of Icelanders think \u00fe\u00e1gufall<\/em> would sound better and try to shove it in instead:<\/p>\n

M\u00e9r langar \u00ed \u00eds.<\/del><\/p>\n

Mig langar \u00ed \u00eds.<\/em> (= I want ice cream.)<\/p>\n

Sigur\u00f0i langar \u00ed \u00eds.<\/del><\/p>\n

Sigur\u00f0 langar \u00ed \u00eds.<\/em> (= Sigur\u00f0ur wants ice cream.)<\/p>\n

This is not limited to this particular verb either; similar verbs are f.ex. a\u00f0 vanta<\/em> (= to lack something) and a\u00f0 hlakka til<\/em> (= to look forward to something). Of these the first one takes only \u00feolfall<\/em>, the latter a nefnifall<\/em> (= nominative):<\/p>\n

M\u00e9r vantar mat.<\/del><\/p>\n

Mig vantar mat<\/em>. (= I’m lacking food\/I don’t have food.)<\/p>\n

M\u00e9r hlakkar til a\u00f0 sj\u00e1 \u00feig.<\/del><\/p>\n

\u00c9g hlakka til a\u00f0 sj\u00e1 \u00feig<\/em>. (= I’m looking forward to seeing you.)<\/p>\n

\u00de\u00e1gufall<\/em> cannot substitute neither nefnifall<\/em>\u00a0nor\u00a0\u00feolfall<\/em> here, not for any reason, so if you hear a local use it instead don’t “correct” your own language use accordingly – it’s a mistake.<\/p>\n

\"308264903_c339153900_o\"<\/a>

Wegweiser by helmar at Flickr.com. Iceland can confuse anyone!<\/p><\/div>\n

Using ef instead of hvort<\/strong><\/p>\n

This mistake may have roots in English, the language that nowadays has the largest influence on Icelandic. Let’s look at the example “I don’t know if Hulda is home.”<\/p>\n

\u00c9g veit ekki ef Hulda s\u00e9 heima.<\/del><\/p>\n

\u00c9g veit ekki hvort Hulda s\u00e9 heima<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Though the words “if” and “ef” technically speaking mean the same, in this context they’re false friends. Interestingly this false friend is actually\u00a0affecting people’s mother tongue instead of the language they’re learning, but as long as you\u00a0keep in mind that you cannot just translate every “if” as “ef”<\/em> you’re safe.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0or\u00a0y?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since certain vowels in Icelandic are pronounced very much the same they sometimes confuse people in written forms.<\/p>\n

afneytun<\/del> – afneitun<\/em>, aldrey<\/del> – aldrei<\/em>, dreyfa<\/del> – dreifa<\/em>, fleyra<\/del> – fleira<\/em>… the list goes on, but you can look at some of the most typical mistakes here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hin n\u00fdja \u00feolmynd<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new passive voice, n\u00fdja \u00feolmynd<\/em>, refers to a faulty way of creating passive voice. This one’s a little harder to explain but Icelandic has its own way of creating \u00feolmynd<\/em> – let’s look at some examples:<\/p>\n

\u00dea\u00f0 var sagt m\u00e9r…<\/del><\/p>\n

M\u00e9r var sagt…<\/em> (= I was told…)<\/p>\n

\u00dea\u00f0 var banna\u00f0 m\u00e9r.<\/del><\/p>\n

M\u00e9r var banna\u00f0<\/em>. (= I was forbidden.)<\/p>\n

Avoid starting your sentences with “\u00fea\u00f0”<\/em> when using passive voice and you’re just fine. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Don’t worry though, I’m not trying to say that Icelandic is so horribly difficult that even Icelanders couldn’t learn it properly. If anything every language has its tricky\u00a0parts – no doubt each one of you readers could easily name examples from your own mother tongues where the native language users make mistakes – and Icelandic is no exception. However, learning what the locals get wrong is like seeing a ditch and therefore not falling in it, language-wise!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More about the most typical mistakes Icelanders make:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sex algengar m\u00e1lvillur sem gera mann gr\u00e1h\u00e6r\u00f0an<\/em> (= Six common language mistakes that make your hair turn gray) here<\/a>.
\nHverjar eru algengustu villurnar \u00ed tala\u00f0ri \u00edslensku?<\/em> (= What are the most common mistakes in spoken Icelandic?) here<\/a>.
\nListi yfir \u00edslenskar stafsetningar- og m\u00e1lfr\u00e6\u00f0ivillur<\/em> (= A list of Icelandic typos and grammatical mistakes) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"419040564_286e27df48_o\"<\/a>

Confused PC by Luigi Rosa at Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I’ve often addressed the various problems a language learner might come across when learning the language, but sometimes it seems that Icelandic is not easy for the natives either. Despite all the efforts at preserving the language\u00a0it just tries to change itself\u00a0anyway, resulting in f.ex. \u00fe\u00e1gufallss\u00fdki – the dative illness – where people will attempt…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":4308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[91175],"tags":[91405,6,91386,10341,91396],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-icelandic-grammar","tag-advanced","tag-grammar","tag-icelandic-lessons","tag-intermediate","tag-so-icelandic"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4314,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions\/4314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}