IS: First weeks notes
Notes from classes. There's some stuff from class handouts I didn't add and some diagrams I didn't draw, but I'll add those eventually.
Misc. / grammar:
kk. stands for karlkyn - male gender words (pronounced katkyn)
kvk. Kvenkyn -female
hvk. Hvorugkyn -neuter (hvorkyn)
items/concepts are usually kk or hvk.
Ex: bátur boat m/tími time n,
hús house n/hljóð sound n
Ø means “empty slot” or no ending.
Ex: hús-Ø
Stem goes from a to ö if (1) ending of word contains u. Regardless of case, if the case ending has u it will change. Changes only to a, never á. Ekki bara nafnorð, with all types of words.
Saga - sögu
(2) if form has no ending.
Ex. Barn - börn
Höfn - hafnir
Exception: hattur. This is because in old Icelandic it was hattr, the -ur is a recent change.
Falleg (fattleg) has two syllables so a doesn’t change. If the first is a but second syllable isn’t, the rule doesn’t apply.
If a is the second vowel it changes to u.
Ex.kennari -kennurum
Eitt hundrað - tvö hundruð
Unstressed vowels - a, I, u etc
Stressed - á, í, ú, ý etc
Ðt never appears, it assimilates to just ð.
Borð - borð
Tt appears instead when after a stressed vowel.
Nýr - nýtt
Þetta er ég. Subject verb object.
Ég because “vera” makes object nominative/predicate.
The noun after a verb is called object.
Opna takes þf
Loka takes þgf
There’s no rule or reason as to which verbs take which cases, you just have to memorize them.
Page numbers are said in neuter.
Bálkur eitt
Pronunciation
T is soft t like in malt, fault, molt. Not as in tea.
G is soft like in gain. (German, good, gain all have different g's. The g in gain is "lighter" than in good.)
K like in cat, not ketchup
Heitir þú- heitirðu - (heitiru)
Hvað (hva)
Áttu (átta)
Bandaríkjunum (-jonum)
Ísland (ístland)
September (seftember)
Æfing (æving)
Hund (hunt)
Vixl (vix)
Barn (batt),barnið (battnið)
Fallorð (fattorð)
Gálfað (gálvað)
Hérna (hétna) also used as “like/um”
Beyging (baying)
Frumlag (frúmlag)
Sagnorð (sack)
Afi (aví)
Níutíu (nítíu)
Kvöld (kvölt) like revolt
Bangladesh (ss instead of sh)
Kafli (kapli)
Words are broken like ly/gging (pause then the g)
Names like Jóns/son (pronounce both s’s)
1900: nítján hundruð, ekki eitt þúsund og níu.
Example sentences:
Afram um A-vixl
Langur strakur -tall boy (langir strákar)
Löngstelpa- tall girl (langar stelpur)
Langt borð (löng borð)
Sérhljóð í áherluleysi
Góða spurning
Andlag er aldri í nf. (object is never in nominative)
kyn í íslensku
ég á eina systur
ég á bara einar buxur (I own only one pair of trousers)
Ertu líkur pappa þínum? (do you look like/are you similar to your dad?)
Ég er vanur þessu - im used to this
Foreldrar hans, þau eru frá Þýskalandi.
Áttu systkini?
Katrín kemur eftir uþb (almost) tíu minútur
Á vorin -in the springtime
á veturna - in the wintertime
Vocab
Mat - evaluation
Námsmat - school evaluation (class exam)
Eiga að - supposed to
Realismi
Naturalismi
Uppmalt - front of mouth (sound)
Lokað - high (sound in mouth, pronunciation)
Opið - low (sound in mouth)
kringt - rounded (in mouth)
einhjóð -monophthong
tvíhjlóð - diphthong (end upwards in the mouth, ex a,u ? ó, ú
A-vixl - a-alteration, a-mutation
Fallorð - nominals (all words that decline/conjugate/have grammatical cases)
Tvö atkvæði - two syllables
Aukafalli - oblique case (accusative, dative, and genitive cases)
Stýra - govern (grammatical case)
Tengja - connection, relationship (ex mother in law) through marriage
Skilinn - divorced
Truffla - disturb
Snemma - early
Flottur -smart, flashy
Hafa áhrif - have influence
Tilurð - creation
Verða til - come into existence
www - þrefalt vaff
halda við - to keep them
Abbreviations
Bls - blaðsíða
Málfræðihugtök / Grammatical terms (will be an image on a chart later)
Skammstöfun Íslenska Enska
afn. afturbeygt fornafn reflexive pronoun
andl. andlag object
ao. atviksorð adverb
áfn. ábendingarfornafn demonstrative pronoun
ákv. ákveðinn definite
bh. boðháttur imperative
ef. eignarfall genitive
efn. eignarfornafn possessive pronoun
et. eintala singular
est. efstastig superlative degree
fh. framsöguháttur indicative
fl. forsetningarliður prepositional phrase
flt. fleirtala plural
fn. fornafn pronoun
frl. frumlag subject
frs. frumstig positive degree
frt. framtíð future tense
fs. forsetning preposition
gm. germynd active voice
gr. greinir article
hvk. hvorugkyn neuter
kk. karlkyn masculine
kvk. kvenkyn feminine
lh. nt. lýsingarháttur nútíðar present participle
lh. þt lýsingarháttur þátíðar past participle
lo. lýsingarorð adjective
mm. miðmynd middle voice
mst. miðstig comparative degree
nf. nefnifall nominative
nh. nafnháttur infinitive
nhm. nafnháttarmerki infinitive marker
no. nafnorð noun, substantive
nt. nútíð present tense
óákv. óákveðinn indefinite
óákv. fn. óákveðið fornafn indefinite pronoun
ób. lo. óbeygjanlegt lýsingarorð indeclinable adjective
ópers. ópersónulegur impersonal
pers. persóna person
pfn. persónufornafn personal pronoun
sf. sagnfylling predicate
so. sögn, sagnorð verb
spao. spurnaratviksorð interrogative adverb
spfn. spurnarfornafn interrogative pronoun
st. samtenging conjunction
to. töluorð numerals
vh. viðtengingarháttur subjunctive
þf. þolfall accusative
þgf. þágufall dative
þm. þolmynd passive voice
þt. þátíð Past/preterit tense
General notes on classes:
Two assignments per week in grammar class. One class no homework is ever due, final exam is 100% of grade. Another class homework is due at midterm and end of term, this is 10% of grade while 5% is handwritten essays due once every two weeks. Final exam is 85%.
Online dictionary is 20 years old
First and second semester of grammar classes are only about inflection/conjugation
IS online supposed to be 50% phonetics
An article on the making and new edition of IS Online is here.
Misc. / grammar:
kk. stands for karlkyn - male gender words (pronounced katkyn)
kvk. Kvenkyn -female
hvk. Hvorugkyn -neuter (hvorkyn)
items/concepts are usually kk or hvk.
Ex: bátur boat m/tími time n,
hús house n/hljóð sound n
Ø means “empty slot” or no ending.
Ex: hús-Ø
Stem goes from a to ö if (1) ending of word contains u. Regardless of case, if the case ending has u it will change. Changes only to a, never á. Ekki bara nafnorð, with all types of words.
Saga - sögu
(2) if form has no ending.
Ex. Barn - börn
Höfn - hafnir
Exception: hattur. This is because in old Icelandic it was hattr, the -ur is a recent change.
Falleg (fattleg) has two syllables so a doesn’t change. If the first is a but second syllable isn’t, the rule doesn’t apply.
If a is the second vowel it changes to u.
Ex.kennari -kennurum
Eitt hundrað - tvö hundruð
Unstressed vowels - a, I, u etc
Stressed - á, í, ú, ý etc
Ðt never appears, it assimilates to just ð.
Borð - borð
Tt appears instead when after a stressed vowel.
Nýr - nýtt
Þetta er ég. Subject verb object.
Ég because “vera” makes object nominative/predicate.
The noun after a verb is called object.
Opna takes þf
Loka takes þgf
There’s no rule or reason as to which verbs take which cases, you just have to memorize them.
Page numbers are said in neuter.
Bálkur eitt
Pronunciation
T is soft t like in malt, fault, molt. Not as in tea.
G is soft like in gain. (German, good, gain all have different g's. The g in gain is "lighter" than in good.)
K like in cat, not ketchup
Heitir þú- heitirðu - (heitiru)
Hvað (hva)
Áttu (átta)
Bandaríkjunum (-jonum)
Ísland (ístland)
September (seftember)
Æfing (æving)
Hund (hunt)
Vixl (vix)
Barn (batt),barnið (battnið)
Fallorð (fattorð)
Gálfað (gálvað)
Hérna (hétna) also used as “like/um”
Beyging (baying)
Frumlag (frúmlag)
Sagnorð (sack)
Afi (aví)
Níutíu (nítíu)
Kvöld (kvölt) like revolt
Bangladesh (ss instead of sh)
Kafli (kapli)
Words are broken like ly/gging (pause then the g)
Names like Jóns/son (pronounce both s’s)
1900: nítján hundruð, ekki eitt þúsund og níu.
Example sentences:
Afram um A-vixl
Langur strakur -tall boy (langir strákar)
Löngstelpa- tall girl (langar stelpur)
Langt borð (löng borð)
Sérhljóð í áherluleysi
Góða spurning
Andlag er aldri í nf. (object is never in nominative)
kyn í íslensku
ég á eina systur
ég á bara einar buxur (I own only one pair of trousers)
Ertu líkur pappa þínum? (do you look like/are you similar to your dad?)
Ég er vanur þessu - im used to this
Foreldrar hans, þau eru frá Þýskalandi.
Áttu systkini?
Katrín kemur eftir uþb (almost) tíu minútur
Á vorin -in the springtime
á veturna - in the wintertime
Vocab
Mat - evaluation
Námsmat - school evaluation (class exam)
Eiga að - supposed to
Realismi
Naturalismi
Uppmalt - front of mouth (sound)
Lokað - high (sound in mouth, pronunciation)
Opið - low (sound in mouth)
kringt - rounded (in mouth)
einhjóð -monophthong
tvíhjlóð - diphthong (end upwards in the mouth, ex a,u ? ó, ú
A-vixl - a-alteration, a-mutation
Fallorð - nominals (all words that decline/conjugate/have grammatical cases)
Tvö atkvæði - two syllables
Aukafalli - oblique case (accusative, dative, and genitive cases)
Stýra - govern (grammatical case)
Tengja - connection, relationship (ex mother in law) through marriage
Skilinn - divorced
Truffla - disturb
Snemma - early
Flottur -smart, flashy
Hafa áhrif - have influence
Tilurð - creation
Verða til - come into existence
www - þrefalt vaff
halda við - to keep them
Abbreviations
Bls - blaðsíða
Málfræðihugtök / Grammatical terms (will be an image on a chart later)
Skammstöfun Íslenska Enska
afn. afturbeygt fornafn reflexive pronoun
andl. andlag object
ao. atviksorð adverb
áfn. ábendingarfornafn demonstrative pronoun
ákv. ákveðinn definite
bh. boðháttur imperative
ef. eignarfall genitive
efn. eignarfornafn possessive pronoun
et. eintala singular
est. efstastig superlative degree
fh. framsöguháttur indicative
fl. forsetningarliður prepositional phrase
flt. fleirtala plural
fn. fornafn pronoun
frl. frumlag subject
frs. frumstig positive degree
frt. framtíð future tense
fs. forsetning preposition
gm. germynd active voice
gr. greinir article
hvk. hvorugkyn neuter
kk. karlkyn masculine
kvk. kvenkyn feminine
lh. nt. lýsingarháttur nútíðar present participle
lh. þt lýsingarháttur þátíðar past participle
lo. lýsingarorð adjective
mm. miðmynd middle voice
mst. miðstig comparative degree
nf. nefnifall nominative
nh. nafnháttur infinitive
nhm. nafnháttarmerki infinitive marker
no. nafnorð noun, substantive
nt. nútíð present tense
óákv. óákveðinn indefinite
óákv. fn. óákveðið fornafn indefinite pronoun
ób. lo. óbeygjanlegt lýsingarorð indeclinable adjective
ópers. ópersónulegur impersonal
pers. persóna person
pfn. persónufornafn personal pronoun
sf. sagnfylling predicate
so. sögn, sagnorð verb
spao. spurnaratviksorð interrogative adverb
spfn. spurnarfornafn interrogative pronoun
st. samtenging conjunction
to. töluorð numerals
vh. viðtengingarháttur subjunctive
þf. þolfall accusative
þgf. þágufall dative
þm. þolmynd passive voice
þt. þátíð Past/preterit tense
General notes on classes:
Two assignments per week in grammar class. One class no homework is ever due, final exam is 100% of grade. Another class homework is due at midterm and end of term, this is 10% of grade while 5% is handwritten essays due once every two weeks. Final exam is 85%.
Online dictionary is 20 years old
First and second semester of grammar classes are only about inflection/conjugation
IS online supposed to be 50% phonetics
An article on the making and new edition of IS Online is here.
