{"id":509,"date":"2012-05-04T18:54:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T18:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=509"},"modified":"2012-05-04T18:54:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T18:54:00","slug":"hafa-eiga-vera-med","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2012\/05\/04\/hafa-eiga-vera-med\/","title":{"rendered":"Hafa, eiga, vera me\u00f0."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sequoia already went briefly over these three<\/a>, but I decided to dig a little bit deeper into them and the other rules that are tied to these verbs. Besides,\u00a0repetition is the mother of all learning!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are three ways of showing ownership in Icelandic, or better said three verbs for it: eiga<\/em>, hafa<\/em> and vera me\u00f0<\/em>. They all have rather strict rules and mixing them is often linguistically impossible (at least without changing the meaning of the sentence), so let’s take a small look at how they work. However, before I do that I’ll just make a quick list of the terms and their short forms that I’m going to be using. It’s completely acceptable to study Icelandic and use English terms instead but because some languages use cases differently it might be less confusing to simply learn the cases in Icelandic. Besides in case you’ll ever decide to study Icelandic in Iceland it’ll help you a lot to know them and understand the way they work beforehand.<\/p>\n

Sequoia has also already explained the genders and how they generally work in the previous post, so I’ll just quickly repeat them with those Icelandic equivalents added: masculine =\u00a0karlkyn<\/em>, shortened to kk<\/strong>. Feminine = kvenkyn<\/em>, shortened kvk<\/strong>. Neuter = hvorukyn<\/em>, shortened hvk<\/strong>. Whenever all three are shown I will always have them in this order: kk<\/strong>., kvk<\/strong>., hvk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The cases are usually shortened thus: nominative =\u00a0nefnifall<\/em>, nf<\/strong>. Accusative = \u00fe\u00f3lfall<\/em>, \u00fef<\/strong>. Dative = \u00a0\u00feagufall<\/em>, \u00fegf<\/strong>. Genitive = eignarfall<\/em>, ef<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eiga\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eiga<\/em> shows direct ownership of an item and demands \u00fef<\/strong>. form for objective. It’s also an irregular verb:<\/p>\n

\u00c9g \u00e1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Vi\u00f0 eigum
\n\u00de\u00fa \u00e1tt \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00dei\u00f0 eigi\u00f0
\nHann\/h\u00fan\/\u00fea\u00f0 \u00e1 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00deeir\/\u00fe\u00e6r\/\u00feau eiga<\/p>\n

Besides this eiga<\/em> can also be used when referring to one’s family even though the meaning is not exactly the same since it’s not possible to actually “own” people. However, that’s the sole exception to the eiga<\/em> -rule, other than that eiga<\/em> always refers to an item. You can also refer to giving birth with eiga<\/em>.<\/p>\n

H\u00fan \u00e6tla eignast barn.<\/em>\u00a0(= She plans to have a child.)<\/p>\n

\u00c9g \u00e1 einn br\u00f3\u00f0ur<\/em>. (=I have one brother)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00c9g hef \u00e1huga \u00e1 lj\u00f3smyndun.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hafa<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c9g hef \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Vi\u00f0 h\u00f6fum
\n\u00de\u00fa hefur \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00dei\u00f0 hafi\u00f0
\nHann\/h\u00fan\/\u00fea\u00f0 hefur \u00a0 \u00a0\u00deeir\/\u00fe\u00e6r\/\u00feau hafa<\/p>\n

Hafa<\/em> is only used for things that are abstract. You can never use hafa to show ownership of an item and this can sometimes be confusing for beginners. Hafa<\/em> can be used for example in context of having an idea, opinion, feeling, time etc.:<\/p>\n

\u00c9g hef engan t\u00edma<\/em>. (= I have no time.)
\nHefur \u00fe\u00fa \u00e1huga \u00e1 \u00edslenskum b\u00f3kmenntum<\/em>? (= Are you interested in Icelandic literature?)<\/p>\n

In fact instead of ownership\u00a0hafa<\/em> is used far more often to show past tense, just like the verb ” to have” in English:<\/p>\n

\u00c9g hef sagt \u00feetta \u00e1\u00f0ur<\/em>. (= I have said that before.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Hundurinn er me\u00f0 hatt.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vera me\u00f0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c9g er \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Vi\u00f0 erum
\n\u00de\u00fa ert \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00dei\u00f0 eri\u00f0
\nHann\/h\u00fan\/\u00fea\u00f0 er \u00a0 \u00a0\u00deeir\/\u00fe\u00e6r\/\u00feau eru<\/p>\n

Vera me\u00f0<\/em> is the one of these verbs that is the most varied in usage; most often vera me\u00f0<\/em> refers to something you are currently holding or carrying.\u00a0If you’ve for example borrowed a pen from someone you can use the verb vera me\u00f0 <\/em>even though it’s not yours,\u00a0it simply means that you indeed are carrying the item in question. This verb can refer to money, candy and other small items that can fit in a pocket or a bag and the object of the sentence will be shown in\u00a0\u00fef<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Vera me\u00f0<\/em> can also be used to describe the features of someone. You’ll need vera me\u00f0<\/em> to describe for example the colour of someone’s eyes: “H\u00fan er me\u00f0 gr\u00e1 augu<\/em>” (she has grey eyes). Naturally any amount of adjectives can be added, just remember to keep the case according to the word it refers to. H\u00e1r is a hvk<\/strong>. and so an example sentence describing Marilyn Monroe’s hair would be “H\u00fan er me\u00f0 stutt, lj\u00f3st, krulla\u00f0 h\u00e1r<\/em>” (she has short, blonde, curly hair).<\/p>\n

Vera me\u00f0 can sometimes be used in an abstract sense as well, which makes things a little confusing at times because there seems to be no exact rule to when you should choose hafa<\/em> and when vera me\u00f0<\/em>, \u00a0so I’m afraid you’ll just have to learn them by heart. One such case if pain: if you’re aching somewhere the way to describe it is to say “\u00c9g er me\u00f0 verk \u00ed maga\/\u00f6xlina\/h\u00f6fu\u00f0<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for other news, the exam season is on! I’ve done two exams already (today’s was, coincidentally, morphology) and there’s two more to go. A word of warning to any and all who consider studying in Iceland – it’ll be a lot of work. A lot<\/em>. But it’ll be worth all the trouble on that moment when you walk out of the exam room and outside the sun is shining warmly with university ravens laughing at you from on top of the main building. These are the good moments in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Sequoia already went briefly over these three, but I decided to dig a little bit deeper into them and the other rules that are tied to these verbs. Besides,\u00a0repetition is the mother of all learning! There are three ways of showing ownership in Icelandic, or better said three verbs for it: eiga, hafa and vera…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[91175],"tags":[6,91386,13],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-icelandic-grammar","tag-grammar","tag-icelandic-lessons","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","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=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}