Alarics modern Icelandic magic sheet, version 2

nouns (most common in bold, with examples with the suffixed definite article in brackets) strong masculine a-plural -nn, -ll i-plural staur sta staar sta stair stai staa weird kttur ktt kattar ketti kettir ketti katta land(-i) land(-i) lands(-ins) landi(-nu) lnd(-in) lnd(-in) landa(-nna) kvi kvi kvis kvi kvi kvi kva neuter ir-plural mynd(-in) mynd(-ina) myndar(-innar) mynd(-inni) mynd(-nar) mynd(-nar) mynd(-nna) feminine ar-plural ur-pl. grein grein greinar grein greinar greinar greina bk bk bkar bk bkur bkur bka nemi nema nema nema nemar nema nema hjarta hjarta hjarta hjarta hjrtu hjrtu hjartna saga sgu sgu sgu sgur sgur sagna A. G. D. N. pl. A. G. D. masc. weak neuter fem. masc. N. sg. langur langan langs strong neuter langt langt langs fem. lng langa langrar langri langar langar langra masc. langi langa langa langa lngu lngu lngu adjectives weak neuter langa langa langa langa lngu lngu lngu lngum fem. langa lngu lngu lngu lngu lngu lngu possessive adjective (example, strong only) masc. minn minn mns neuter mitt mitt mns fem. mn mna minnar minni mnar mnar minna mnum

N. sg. fiskur(-inn) steinn A. G. D. N. pl. A. G. D. fisk(-inn) fisks(-ins) fiski(-num) fiskar(-nir) fiska(-na) fiska(-nna) fiskum (fiskunum) stein steins steini steinar steina steina

lngum lngu langir langa langra lng lng langra

mnum mnu mnir mna minna mn mn minna

steinum stum kttum lndum (lndunum)

kvum myndum (myndunum)

greinum bkum nemum hjrtum sgum

lngum lngum lngum lngum

lngum mnum mnum

verbs (with examples of the reflexive and subjunctive forms for groups 1 and 5) group 1 infinitive imp. s. imp. pl. tla tla(u) tli tlast group 2 gera ger(u) geri group 3 skilja skil(du) skilji group 4 ba b(u) bi fara far(u) fari farandi fari farist subj. verandi verit indic. subj. group 5 farast vera ver to be sound-changes u-mutation: a when followed by u becomes (when stressed) or u (when unstressed). Thus saga saga, but sgur sagas; gamall old (masculine nominative singular), but gmul old (feminine nominative singular). Sometimes the u has been lost, but its effects remain, as in land land, but lnd lands (< *landu). i-mutation: when followed by an i or j, usually now lost, vowels changed thus: a, o, > e; , > ; , j, j > ; u > y; au > ey. 1st 2nd

pronouns 3rd person masc. N sg. g A G D N pl. A G D mig mn mr vi ig n r i hann hann hans neuter a a ess fem. hn hana hennar henni r r eirra eim reflexive sig sn sr sig sn sr

pres. part. tlandi past part. present 1 sg. 2nd 3

rd st

gerandi skiljandi bandi tlast gert subjunctive tli tlir tli tlum tli tli geri gerir gerir gerum geri gera skil skilur skilur skiljum skilji skilja b br br bum bi ba skili bi

tla

honum v eir eirra eim au au eirra eim

indicative active tla tlar tlar tlum tli tla reflexive tlast tlast tlast tlumst tlist tlast

indicative active fer fer fer frum fari fara refl. ferst ferst ferst frumst farist farast

okkur ykkur okkar ykkar okkur ykkur

fari farir fari frum fari fari

er ert er erum eru eru

s srt s sum su su

1st pl. 2 3
nd rd

demonstrative pronouns it/that/those masc. N sg. s neut. a a ess v au au fem. s masc. essi ennan this/these neuter etta etta essa fem. essi essa essarar essari essar essar essara essum masc. nokkur nokkurn nokkurs nokkrum nokkrir nokkra nokkurra nokkrum

indefinite pronoun some, something neuter nokku/nokkurt nokku/nokkurt nokkurs nokkru nokkur nokkur nokkurra nokkrum fem. nokkur nokkra nokkurrar nokkurri nokkrar nokkrar nokkurra nokkrum

past 1 sg. 2nd 3rd 1st pl. 2nd 3

rd st

tlai tlair tlai

tlaist tlaist tlaist

tlai tlair tlai

geri gerir geri

skildi skildir skildi

bj bjst bj

fr frst fr

frst frst frst frumst frust frust

fri frir fri frum fru fru

var varst var

vri vrir vri

A G D N pl. A G D

ann ess eim eir eirra eim

eirrar essa eirri r r

essum essu essir essa essi essi

tluum tluumst tluum gerum skildum tluu tluu tluust tluust tluu tluu geru geru skildu skildu

bjuggum frum bjuggu bjuggu fru fru

vorum vrum voru voru vru vru

eirra eirra eim eim

essara essara essum essum

glossary: fiskur fish; staur place; kttur cat; steinn stone; land land; kvi poem; mynd picture; grein article; bk book; bogi bow; hjarta heart; saga story, history; langr long; minn my, mine; tla intend; gera do, make; skilja understand, divide; ba live, dwell; fara travel, go; vera be.

What is case? Cases are the different forms that nouns, pronouns and adjectives take in some languages when their grammatical function changes. In English, nouns dont really have casesbut pronouns do. Take an English sentence, substitute the third person masculine pronoun for a noun phrase, and youll find yourself automatically changing the case of the pronoun, depending on whether its a subject, object or possessive! case and number nominative singular 1st person 3rd person function pronoun pronoun I he modern English examples Icelandic examples g t fisk. lafur t fisk. lafur og ktturinn tu fisk. Fiskurinn t mig. lafur t fisk. lafur t fisk ok kttinn. Hans sver var svart. Hann t fisk kattarins. Saga kattarins var lng. g gaf nafn honum. Hann var landinu. Hn er k gulli. eir tu lf. Jtnar ta menn. Vkingarnir sru . Hundurinn t jtna.
N sg. A G D N pl. A G D N pl. A G D N pl. A G D N pl. A G D none, no-one masculine N sg. A G D N pl. A G D enginn engan einskis engum engir enga engra engum neuter ekkert ekkert einskis engu engin engin engra engum numerals masculine einn einn eins einum einir eina einna einum tveir tvo tveggja tveimur rr rj riggja remur fjrir fjra fjgurra fjrum neuter eitt eitt eins einu ein ein einna einum tv tv tveggja tveimur rj rj riggja remur fjgur fjgur fjgurra fjrum feminine ein eina einar einni einar einar einna einum tvr tvr tveggja tveimur rjr rjr riggja remur fjrar fjrar fjgurra fjrum feminine engin enga engrar engri engar engar engra engum

the subject I ate a fish. (the thing that does the verb) lafur ate a fish. lafur and the cat ate a fish. the object The fish ate me. (the thing the verb is done to) lafur ate a fish. lafur ate a fish and the cat. a noun/pronoun in the genitive possesses another noun various things, principally: indirect objects, words after a preposition, words taking the role of a preposition. His sword was black. He ate the cats fish. The history of the cat was long. I gave him a name. He was on the land. Hn er k gulli she is thatched with gold

accusative singular

me

him

genitive singular

my

his

dative singular

(to, from, with, by, etc.) me we us our

(to, from, with, by, etc.) him they them their

nominative plural accusative plural genitive plural (almost always ends in -a in Icelandic!) dative plural (almost always ends in -um in Icelandic!)

the subject They ate lafur. (the thing that does the verb) Giants eat people. the object The Vikings wounded them. (the thing the verb is done to) The dog ate giants. a noun/pronoun in the genitive possesses another noun various things, principally: indirect objects, words after a preposition, words taking the role of a preposition.

My dogs ate their fish. Mnir hundar tu eirra fisk. I broke Vikings bones. g braut vkinga bein. The bones of the Vikings broke. Bein vkinga brutu. He gave them names. He lived with giants. Keyru eir sporum they drove with their spurs. Hann gaf nfn eim. Hann bj me jtnum. Keyru eir sporum.

(to, from, with, by, etc.) us

(to, from, with, by, etc.) them

What do the terms in the verbs box mean? Unlike normal verbs, the infinitive doesnt change its form according to person or tense: in I want to run, he wants to run, I wanted to run, the main verb want changes, but the infinitive run stays the same. As in that sentence, infinitives always depend on other verbs. Imperatives are commands like get out! stop! etc. They can be singular (commanding one person) or plural (commanding several). Participles are verbs that have been turned into adjectives, and have different forms depending on whether they refer to the present or the pastas in the breaking bridge (cf. the bridge breaks, present), the broken bridge (cf. the bridge broke, past). Past participles turn up a lot with the verb to have/hafa, in constructions like g hef gert brna I have made the bridge, eir hafa skili they have understood. In Icelandic, indicative verbs are basically ordinary verbs, used when what you say is a simple statement of the truth. Subjunctives are used in uncertain or hypothetical situations, in phrases like if I were rich, I would buy Alaric presents and may you shrivel and die. alt-codes to type cool Icelandic characters on a UK keyboard. For the vowels , , , and , you will probably find that if you hold down AltGr and type the vowel, youll get the desired output. For other letters, or the vowels if that doesnt work, use alt-codes. You can find a list, for example, here: http://code.knopok.net/alt-codes.html.

fimm (5), sex (6), sj (7), tta (8), nu (9), tu (10), ellefu (11), tlf (12), rttn (13), fjrtn (14), fimmtn (15), sextn (16), sautjn (17), tjn (18), ntjn (19), tuttugu (20), tuttugu og einn (21), tuttugu og tveir (22), rjtu (30), fjrutu (40), fimmtu (50), sextu (60), sjtu (70), ttatu (80), nutu (90), (eitt) hundra (100), (eitt) sund (1,000), (ein) miljn (1,000,000).