Icelandic Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Icelandic grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Icelandic and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Icelandic and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Icelandic.

Prepositions - Icelandic
and og
above yfir
under undir
before áður en
after eftir
in front of fyrir framan
behind á bak við
far from fjarri
near nálægt
in í
inside inni í
outside úti
with með
without án
about um
between á milli
but en
for fyrir
from frá
to til

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Icelandic
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] ég borða án hnífs
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] hún býr nálægt kirkjunni
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] hann er hærri en hún
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] hann kom með litla hundinn sinn
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] getur þú komið með mér?

Negation in Icelandic

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Icelandic
I understand you [affirmative form] ég skil þig
I don't understand you [negation + verb] ég skil þig ekki
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] þetta er ekki rétta orðið
don't leave me [imperative negation] ekki fara frá mér
no problem [negation + noun] ekkert vandamál

Negative Sentences - Icelandic
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] ég tala ekki frönsku
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] hún heimsótti ekki þýskaland
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] hann getur ekki séð okkur
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] getur hún ekki spilað skák?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] við munum ekki koma of seint

Questions in Icelandic

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Icelandic
how? hvernig?
what? hvað?
who? hver?
why? hvers vegna?
where? hvar?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Icelandic
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] hvar áttu heima?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] talar hún kínversku?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] hversu mikið er þetta?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] get ég hjálpað þér?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] hvað heitir þú?

Adverbs in Icelandic

It's time to learn the adverbs in Icelandic. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Icelandic
now núna
yesterday í gær
today í dag
tonight í kvöld
tomorrow á morgun
soon bráðum
quickly fljótt
slowly hægt
together saman
very mjög
almost næstum
always alltaf
usually venjulega
sometimes stundum
rarely sjaldan
never aldrei

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Icelandic
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] skilur þú mig núna?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] ég þarf hjálp strax
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] hún er mjög greind
I will always love you [verb + adverb] ég mun alltaf elska þig
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] getum við lært þýsku saman?

Pronouns in Icelandic

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Icelandic. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Icelandic
I ég
you þú
he hann
she hún
we við
they þeir/þær/þau

Object Pronouns - Icelandic
me mig
you þig
him hann/honum
her hana/henni
us okkur
them þá/þær/þau

Possessive Pronouns - Icelandic
my minn/mín/mitt
your þinn/þín/þitt
his hans
her hennar
our okkar
their þeirra

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Icelandic
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] ég er vinur þinn
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] þú talar mjög hratt
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] hann á þrjá hunda
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] hún getur talað þýsku
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] við munum ekki koma of seint
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] þeir keyptu mjólk og brauð

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Icelandic
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] getur þú sagt mér nafnið þitt?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] ég mun gefa þér peninga
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] hún skrifaði honum bréf
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] þeir heimsóttu hana í gær
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] getur hún hjálpað okkur?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] hann gaf þeim mat

Possessive Pronouns - Icelandic
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] ég heiti maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] bróðir þinn býr hér
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] móðir hans eldar fyrir okkur
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] áhugamál hans er að lesa bækur
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] draumur okkar er að heimsækja parís
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] húsið þeirra er ekki langt í burtu

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Icelandic
this is my house þetta er mitt hús
that restaurant is far þetta veitingahús er langt í burtu
these apples are delicious þessi epli eru ljúffeng
those stars are shiny þessar stjörnur eru skærar

I hope you learned a lot about the Icelandic grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!