en Pp es TT nite,For UK order enquiries: please contact Bookpoint Ltd, 130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB. Telephone: +44 (0) 1235 827720, Fax: +44 (0) 1235 400454. Lines are open 9.00-18.00, Monday to Saturday, with a 24-hour message answering service. Details about our titles and how to order are available at [Link] For USA order enquiries: please contact McGraw-Hill Customer Services, P.0. Box 545, Blacklick, OH 43004-0545, USA. Telephone: 1-800-722-4726. Fax: 1-614-755-5645. For Canada order enquiries: please contact McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd, 300 Water St, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6, Canada. Telephone: 905 430 5000. Fax: 905 430 5020. Long renowned as the authoritative source for self-guided learning — with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide — the Teach Yourself series includes over 300 titles in the fields of tanguages, crafts, hobbies, business, computing and education. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue entry for this title is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: on file First published in UK 2004 by Hodder Headline, 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BH. First published in US 2004 by Contemporary Books, a division of the McGraw Hill Companies, 1 Prudential Plaza, 130 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601 USA. The ‘Teach Yourself’ name is a registered trade mark of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Copyright © 2004 Hildur J6nsdéttir Jn UK. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. In US. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Contemporary Books. Typeset by Transet Limited, Coventry, England. Printed in Great Britain for Hodder & Stoughton Educational, a division of Hodder Headline, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire. Hodder Headline’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manutacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. impression number 10987654321 Year 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 200401 PLEASE: WORKEOOK, introduction 1 pronunciation guide 4 hee, hvad heitir pu? hi, what's your name? 8 greeting people and saying ‘goodbye’ « asking someone's name and saying your name * asking where someone is from and saying where you are from « saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ « thanking somebody hvada tungumdl talardu? which language(s) do you speak? 19 saying ‘excuse me’ « saying which languages you speak / don't speak * asking someone which language(s) they speak * saying what your mother tongue is Mamma Bjérns er islensk Bjém’s mother is Icelandic 26 saying which nationality you are ° referring to members of your family « referring to your male and female friends, your boyfriend / girlfriend, your husband / wife Christof er dékkheerdur Christof is dark-haired 35 describing the way somebody looks * describing somebody's personality * asking someone's full name ¢ asking an Icelander what his last name is $}U9}]U09;~10 "1 12 13 14 Christot er ad lesa Christof is reading 46 learning about Iceland * discovering more about Iceland's capital city Reykjavik * making ‘suggestions on what to do and where to go hann fer klukkan tvé he leaves at two o'clock 54 asking somebody what their telephone number is and saying what your telephone number is * saying what time it is (whole hours) and asking the time * saying what year it is © learning about the Icelandic currency * saying where you live sjdumst i kv6ld kiukkan haltniu see you tonight at half past eight 68 learning the days of the week « talking about parts of the day * saying what the time is ég taladi vid Erlu / spoke to Erla 78 asking somebody what he / she does for a living * learning about occupations vid sjaumst um helgina I'll see you at the weekend 88 talking about plans for the weekend talking about what you did at the weekend haféiréu pad ekki gott? didn’t you have a nice time? 96 writing letters » talking about your holiday geturdu farid ut { bud fyrir mig? can you go to the shop for me? 105 going shopping * asking for items of food and drink Bjorn og Gudrun kaupa fiskibollur Bjorn and Gudrun buy fishcakes 113 More about going shopping in the supermarket * buying groceries hvaé er { matin? what's for dinner? 125 asking what's for dinner « laying the table takk fyrir mig thanks for the meal 136 learning about mealtime etiquette15 ertu til fad koma i bid? do you want to go to the cinema? 149 making plans ¢ going to the cinema 16 Guérin 4 afmeeli it's Gudrin's birthday 158 saying how old you are * wishing someone a happy birthday * months, seasons, high days and holidays * saying what the date is taking it further 174 key to the exercises 177 appendix: more on pronunciation 183 Icelandic-English vocabulary 189 English-Icelandic vocabulary 202 index 215 squaqu09be classified as a very conservative language. Hardly any dialects exist in Icelandic; this is probably due to the small size of the population and the strong family ties and regular contact between different groups of people from as early as 1000 ab, because of, for example, parliament meetings. In modern Icelandic there is only one dialect, which exists among younger generations, and even this is not very different from the standard language. Icelandic is an inflectional language, which means it has cases and endings added to the words. Some of the grammar structures are very similar to German and much of the vocabulary bears resemblance to other Germanic languages (such as the other Scandinavian languages, German and Dutch). If you already know a Germanic language, learning Icelandic will be easier for you. How to use the book Each unit consists of dialogues, vocabulary lists, grammar explanations and exercises. Sometimes there are additional pronunciation explanations, comments about the vocabulary and explanations in English about Iceland or Icelandic society, marked by @. At the beginning of the book there is a pronunciation guide in which the main pronunciation rules are given, but further rules will be introduced in subsequent units. More details are given in the appendix. You should study the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book very carefully, listen to the recording and try to practise as much as you can. There are some sounds in Icelandic which do not exist in English (or related languages), so you need to pay special attention to the pronunciation. In each unit there are a few dialogues (often two or three). Normally the dialogues are preceded by an introduction in English or Icelandic. You should read this introduction before you read the dialogues, because it gives you the context of the dialogues. All of the dialogues appear on the recording which accompanies the book. To develop a good knowledge of pronunciation, you are strongly advised to use the recording if possible. You need to study the dialogue. The vocabulary after the dialogue gives you the meaning of the new words and phrases (words from all units can be found in the Icelandic-English vocabulary at the end of the book).Next there are grammar explanations. Only the main grammar rules of Icelandic are described in this book. When you become more advanced you need to consult Icelandic grammar books (see the Taking it further section). At the end of each unit you will find a number of exercises. It is very important to do the exercises so that you can practise what you have learnt in the unit, both new grammar structures and new vocabulary. Try to do all the exercises both orally (to practise speaking Icelandic) and in writing (to practise writing Icelandic). The exercises are designed to practise communica- tion and also grammar structures. The recording that accompanies the book contains selected material from the units (marked by {J in the book). It contains the words in the pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book, all the dialogues, and some of the grammar explanations. The book can be used without the recording, but in that case you should try to listen to Icelandic spoken by native speakers whenever possible (e.g. on line; see the Taking it further section). Try also to read out loud as often as you can to increase your confidence in pronunciation. Try to use Icelandic whenever you get a chance and remember that practice makes perfect! Abbreviations acc. accusative d has d in the past tense 8 has 4 in the past tense dat. dative f. feminine gen. genitive imp. imperative m. masculine n, neuter nom. nominative Past part. _ past participle pl. plural sing. singular t has ¢ in the past tense o uononposuyepinb uoljelunuoid The Icelandic alphabet has 32 letters: Aa Aa Bb Dd Dd Ee Ee Ff Gg Hh ii fi ji Kk LI Mm Nn Oo Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Ua Ww Xx Yy Yy bp Ae 06 As you can see, Icelandic has some letters which English doesn’t have: 4, 6, é, i, 6, U, ¥, b, 2, 6. Don’t worry if these seem quite foreign to you - we will go through the pronunciation of each letter later on. It is important to realize that the letters 4, é, i, 6, @ and y are separate letters from a, e, i, 0, u and y, and they have their own pronunciation. The superscript mark “ is therefore not a symbol of length or accent. So the letters a and 4, for example, correspond to different sounds: a is pronounced like a in English father and 4 is pronounced like ow in English down. We will now go through the pronunciation of each letter of the alphabet. Only the regular (i.e. usual) pronunciation will be given here; exceptions will be introduced in later units of the book and in the appendix. To explain the pronunciation, a comparison with English and other languages will be made. Phonetic symbols (within square brackets) will also be used to complement the explanations. IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols are used in the phonetic transcription except in two cases: the symbol |b] is used instead of [6] and the symbol [6] instead of [ce]. In Icelandic phonetics books these two symbols are normally used instead of the IPA ones. Some of the sounds do not occur in English and it is therefore very important to listen carefully to the recording that accompanies the book. Try to practise the sounds as much as you can. In the end you will get the hang of even the ‘strangest’ sounds!(Vowels a [a] _ is similar to a in English father and it is like French / German / Italian / Spanish a. Example: sandur (sand). 4 [au] like ow in English down. Example: ast (love). e [e] like e in English bed. Example: senda (send). é [je] __ like ye in English yes. Example: ég (1). i fq] like # in English bid, bid. Example: listi (list). i [il like ea in English beat. Example: simi (telephone). o [9] like aw in English law, bawd. Example: loft (air). 6 [ou] is very similar to the exclamation ob in English. Example: béndi (farmer). u [Y] does not occur in English. It is produced by trying to pronounce [1] (as in Icelandic listi or English bid) with rounded lips. This sound appears in German for short ii, like fiinf, kiissen. Example: hundur (dog). u [ul like o in English who. Example: Russland (Russia). y fi] __ like in English hid, bid. Example: synda (swim). y fil like ea in English heat. Example: syna (show). z [ai] like i in English bide. Example: lesa (lock). 6 [6] does not occur in English. It is produced by trying to pronounce [e] (as in Icelandic senda or English bed) with rounded lips. It is quite similar to the i in English bird and ea in English heard, Example: hénd (band). ei [ei] like a in English came. Example: neisti (spark). ey lei] like a in English came. Example: keyra (drive). au [dy] see description of 6 above — [y] is pronounced like [1], except that you round your lips. The sound [y] only appears in this combination [6y] in Icelandic. Example: haust (autumn). Warning: If you know German, then be really careful when you pronounce the letters au — they are not pronounced like German [au]! (Consonants b [bh] _ like English 6, but with a bit more breathing; like p in English spin. Example: bzr (town). d [dq] like English d, but with a bit more breathing; like ¢ in English stop. Example: draumur (dream). 9 [8] _ like th in English father. Example: eda (or). f [f] like f in English father. Example: fa (get). g has three main pronunciations: 1 [§] When the letter g appears at the beginning of words, it is pronounced like English [g], but with a bit 5 2 ° 2 2 2 8 2 s6 2 3 3 E 3 2 S 3 a & a @ h (hy i fil k iy m [m)} r [cr] s [s] more breathing, like & in English skip. Examples: gata (street), grar (grey). 2 [y] When g appears between vowels, or between a vowel and 4 or rf, it has a guttural sound which does not occur in English, but can be heard in Spanish in the word Tarragona. Listen carefully to the recording and try to imitate what you hear. Examples: saga (story), sag0i (said), sigra (win). 3 [x] When g appears in the middle of a word before tors it has a sound which does not occur in English, but which can be heard in Scottish loch, German ach and Spanish jota. Examples: haegt (possible), hugsa (think). like 4 in English be. Example: hundur (dog). like y in English yes. Example: ja (yes). has three main pronunciations: 1 [k*] When the letter k appears at the beginning of words, it is pronounced like k in English kick. Examples: kasta (throw), krona (unit of money used in Iceland). 2 [@] In the middle of a word between vowels or at the end: see description of [§] above. Examples: taka (take), tak (hold). 3 [x] When k appears in the middle of a word before tors it has the [x] sound: see above under the third pronunciation of the letter g. Example: rakt (damp). like J in English land. Example: las (lock). like m in English mother. Example: mala (paint). has two main pronunciations: 1 [n] like » in English night. Example: né (now). 2 [n} like in English sing. Example: fingur (finger). has two main pronunciations: 1 [p*] when the letter p appears at the beginning of words, it is pronounced like p in English pen. Example: penni (pen). 2 [b] In the middle of a word between vowels or at the end: see description of [b] above. Examples: tapa (lose), tap (loss). very similar to r in English brr uttered by speakers when shuddering with cold. It is a trill, i.e. it is rolled. This sound appears in Scottish English and in Spanish, as in Tarragona. Listen carefully to the recording and try to imitate what you hear. Example: rés (rose). like s in English sea. Example: s6l (sun).t has two main pronunciations: 1 [t'] when the letter t appears at the beginning of words, it is pronounced like ¢ in English time. Example: taska (handbag, suitcase). 2 [d] In the middle of a word between vowels: see description of [d] above. Example: gata (street). v [v] _ like vin English very. Example: vasi (pocket or vase). x [§s] or [xs] It is optional whether you pronounce the letter x as [4s] or [xs]. See description of [x], [s] and [6] above. Example: buxur (trousers) p [pb] __ like th in English thriller. Example: burfa (need). Stress and length Ostress In Icelandic the first syllable of a word (e.g. sk6 in sk6li (school)) is stressed (i.e. spoken with more emphasis). The only exception that need concern us here is hallé, said when answering the telephone. Length Rule 1: In syllables without stress (i.e. in all syllables except the first one) sounds are short. Example: skéli - the syllable li is not stressed and the sounds [I] and [1] are therefore short. Rule 2: stressed vowels are long before one or no consonant, otherwise short. Examples: tala (speak) - long, one consonant following, tria (believe) - long, no consonant following, koss (kiss) — short, two consonants following. Double written consonants are long (there are some exceptions though, which we will see later on), otherwise consonants are always short. Example: koss — long s-sound. 7 3 s Z 3 a z e = SoO ce. ~~ = 3 8 = < 9) oO = J Q. East = LOweU JINOA syeUuM ‘I In this unit you will learn + how to greet people and say ‘goodbye’ how to ask someone’s name and say your name how to ask where someone is from and say where you are from how to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ how to thank somebody Language points personal pronouns such as €g (/) and pu (you) common question words such as hvaé (what) and hvar (where) word order in questions the verbs a6 vera (to be) and a6 heita (to be called) country names such as Island (Iceland)(Greetings 9 = 8 z 3 zg = S He! Hi! Hvad segiréu? How are you? (lit. What say you?) allt fint good, fine (lit. everything fine) sll! / szel! (toa woman) = hi blessadur! / blessud! (to a woman) hi (lit. blessed) seell og blessadur! / seel og blessud! (to a woman) _ hi (lit. happy and blessed) komdu seell / komdu seel (to a woman) hi (lit. come happy) komdu blessadéur / komdu blessuéd (to a woman) hi (lit. come blessed) komdu szell og blessadur / komdu sel og blessud (to a woman) hi (lit. come happy and blessed) sell vertu / seel vertu (to a woman) hi (lit. be happy) g6dan dag! / gé66an daginn! good day gott kvdld! / gé6a kvdldid! good evening Pronunciation * Be careful when you pronounce hvaé - it is pronounced as if it were written kvad. The letters hv are always pronounced as * Be careful when you pronounce szll — it is pronounced as if it were written sadl. The letters Il are almost always Pronounced as dl if they are not followed by another consonant, * Be careful when you pronounce gott — it is pronounced as if it were written goht. The letters tt, kk and pp are always Pronounced as ht, hk and hp respectively. You pronounce an h-sound and then a short t-, k- or p-sound. The h-sound is (normally) a clear, ordinary h-sound, like the one in hundur10 = 8 = FH S & z a z z S 10 (dog). It is helpful to imagine a false boundary between the h-sound and the k-sound; then you have an h-sound at the end of the first part, and it is easier to pronounce an [h] at the end than in the middle of a word. So when you say the word gott, say it in two steps: goh -t. Language notes © The question Hvaé segirdu? (How are you?) is used more by younger people. It can be answered in several ways: allt fint (lit. everything fine), bara allt fint (lit. just everything fine), allt ageett (lit. everything OK/so-so), bara allt Agaett (lit. just everything OK/so-so). ¢ Hz is used more by younger people. © Szl (used to address a female) and szll (used to address a male) are used less by young people (unless they are addressing older people). © Blessud (used to address a female) and Blessadur (used to address a male) can be used both as greetings and goodbyes. They are used between older people, although in recent years it has become trendy to use them as greetings between younger people. ¢ The greetings Szll og blessaéur!, komdu szll, komdu blessadur, komdu szll og blessadur and szll vertu are used by older people. ¢ G6dan daginn / Gédan dag is used in the morning as well. © Goodbyes bless goodbye vid sjdumst see you (lit. we will see each other) sjaumst see youbee! bee, bz! bye blessaéur / blessué (to a woman) goodbye, bless vertu blessaéur / vertu blessuéd (to a woman) _ bye (lit. be blessed) vertu szell / vertu szel (to a woman) bye (lit. be happy) Language notes Bless is used both by older and younger people. Bz is used more by younger people. ¢ The goodbyes vertu blessadur and vertu sall are used by older people. GO He, hvaé heitir pu? Hi, what's your name? Christof is a friend of Bjérn’s. He’s just arrived in Iceland with his girlfriend Anna. Christof and Anna have come to visit Bjorn and his family. Bjérn meets Anna for the first time. Bjorn Hae! Hvad heitir pu? Anna Anna. En pu? Bjérn_—_ Eg heiti Bjorn. he = hi hva5- what heitir, heiti (from heita) are called, am called ba you (sing.) en but en pu? and you? ég / Pronunciation Be careful when you pronounce the name Bjorn. Bjérn is Pronounced as if it were spelt Bjérdn or Bjédn — the letters rn are always pronounced as rdn or dn (in some common words you can choose whether to pronounce the letters rn as rdn or dn). Bjorn Petta er Inga, mamma min. Inga (turning to Christof) Sell! Heitir pu Christof? Christof Ja, ég heiti Christof. = = z= 8 z < o a z 2 zz co . 10énd aney geay ‘ey 55 LO betta this min my er (from vera) is ja yes mamma mother, mum Pronunciation The letter i is pronounced i before the letters ng. Inga is therefore pronounced Inga. CG Hvaéan ertu? Where are you from? Bjorn doesn’t know where Anna comes from, and Inga doesn’t know where Christof comes from. Bjorn (turning to Anna): Hvaéan ertu? Anna Eg er {rd Hollandi. Inga (turning to Christof): Ert pu lika fra Hollandi? Christof Nei, ég er fra Pyskalandi. hvadan_ where from ertu (ert (from vera) + pl) are you er (from vera) am fra from Hollandi (from Holland) Holland lika also nei no Pyskalandi (from Pyskaland) Germany Bjérn’s father Kari comes home and Bjérn introduces Christof and Anna to him. Bjorn Petta eru Christof og Anna. Kari Velkomin til (slands! Christof og Anna Takk! Kari Erud pid fra Pyskalandi? Christof Ja, ég er fra Pyskalandi en Anna er fra Hollandi. eru (from vera) are og and velkomin (from velkominn) welcome til to islands (from island) Iceland takk = thank you, thanks erud (from vera) are pid you (plural)Pronunciation Be careful when you pronounce takk - remember that the letters kk are always pronounced as hk. The easiest way to pronounce the word is to do it in two steps: tah -— k. _ o Grammar Ci The verb a6 vera (to be) The verb ad vera (fo be) is a strong verb in Icelandic, as in most languages (including English). It has the following forms in the énd aniey geay ey present tense: 4 ad vera to be éger tam pu ert you are hann / hin / bad er he/she / it is vid erum we are pid erud you are beir / beer / pau eru they are Language notes * The word to, which accompanies the verb in the infinitive (ie. in the dictionary form), is ad in Icelandic. * In the third person plural (they) there are three pronouns corresponding to the three genders: peir is masculine, ber is feminine, pau is neuter. For two men you would therefore use peir, for two women you would use bzr and for a man and a woman you would use pau. D auestions Common question words in Icelandic are: hvad what hver who hvenzr when hvar where When you form questions in Icelandic you always place the verb before the noun / pronoun:and uniey geay ‘ey LO statement question bu heitir Anna. Hvaé heitir pu? What is your name? Your name is Anna. (lit. What are called you?) Heitir pG Anna? /s your name Anna? (lit. Are called you Anna?) The pronoun pu in questions In questions you normally put the pronoun bi and the verb together: Ert pu fra byskalandi? Ertu fra byskalandi? If the verb form ends in -t then the p is dropped; otherwise the pb changes to 6: Heitir ba Anna? — Heitiréu Anna? Is your name Anna? Are you from Germany? If you don’t put the pa and the verb together, you are effectively stressing the pronoun: Hvad heitir pi? What's your name? Ci The verb aé heita (to be called) The verb ad heita (to be called) is also a strong verb like ad vera. It has the following forms in the present tense: a6 heita to be called ég heiti 1 am called bo heitir you are called hann / hin / pad heitir he / she / it is called vid heitum we are called pid heitid you are called beir / beer / pau heita they are called Note - The plural present forms of almost all strong / irregular verbs are regular; you add the regular endings -um, -id, -a to the stem of the verb. Only the verb ad vera and a few others (those which end in 4, 0 or u in the infinitive, e.g. £4 (get), bvo (wash), skulu (shall) have irregular plural present forms.Cases There are four cases in Icelandic: nominative (like I in I did it), accusative (like me in He hit me), dative (like me in Give it to me) and genitive (like John’s in Jobn’s house). All nouns in Icelandic have a particular form depending on which case they are in. We will learn more about each case later on. Most verbs and all prepositions (words like on, from, to) take a particular case, i.e. the noun that follows the verb or the preposition has to be in a particular case. The preposition fra (from) always takes the dative, so the noun following this preposition must be in the dative form. The word land (country) is landi in the dative and words ending in -land (like Island, Pyskaland, Holland) therefore always end in -landi in the dative. We therefore say: fg er fra Pyskalandi (Germany) Hollandi (Holland) islandi (Iceland) Englandi (England) Bretlandi (Britain), St6ra-Bretlandi (Great Britain) frlandi (Ireland) Finnlandi (Finland) Grenlandi (Greenland) Frakklandi (France) Péllandi (Poland) Résslandi (Russia) Tékklandi (Czech Republic) Ungverjalandi (Hungary) Grikklandi (Greece) Tyrklandi (Turkey) Indlandi (India) Telandi (Thailand) Eistlandi (Estonia) Lettlandi (Latvia). Nor all country names end in -land, though. The following countries do not end in -land, and they happen to be the same in the dative form: Svibjod (Sweden) Eg er fra Svipjod. Sviss (Switzerland) Eg er fra Sviss. Portigal (Portugal) Eg er fra Portagal. Japan (Japan) Eg er fra Japan. Kina (China) Eg er fra Kina. = a z 8 z 5 o = z & 2 LOKanada (Canada) Eg er fra Kanada. - Israel (Israel) Eg er fra Israel. 8 Mexiké (Mexico) Eg er fra Mexiko. z Austurriki (Austria) Eg er fra Austurriki. & The following countries do not end in -land; they have different g forms in the dative. We will learn more about these forms later. sz Noregur (Norway) Eg er fra Noregi. 5 Danmérk (Denmark) Eg er fra Danmorku, fralia (Italy) Eg er fra ftaliu. Spann (Spain) Eg er fra Spani. Belgia (Belgium) Eg er fra Belgiu. S Bulgaria (Bulgaria) Eg er fra Bulgariu. Amerika (America) Eg er fra Ameriku. Bandarikin (United States) Eg er fra _Bandarikjunum. Astralia (Australia) Eg er fra Astraliu. Ramenia (Romania) Eg er fra Rameniu. Korea (Korea) Eg er fra Koreu. Evrépa EuropeBrasilia (Brazil) Eg er fra Brasiliu. Argentina (Argentina) Eg er fra Argentinu. Sudur-Afrika (South Africa) Eg er fra Sudur-Afriku. Try to learn the names of the countries listed above. Can you say which country you come from? How about your foreign friends — can you say where they come from? Practice B 1 You go into a small corner shop to buy a few things. The shop assistant greets you and asks you some questions: Shop assistant G0éan daginn! You (Use an equivalent phrase.) Shop assistant Hvadan ertu? You (Say you're from England.) Shop assistant Hvaé heitiréu? You (Say your name is Suzanna and ask ‘How about you?’) Shop assistant Eg heiti Eirikur. > By You are called Jon and your friend is Markus. You are from Sweden. You start talking to a woman on the bus and she asks you the following questions. Answer in Icelandic. a Hyvaé heitid pid? b_ Erud pid fra Englandi? 3 List the countries mentioned in this newspaper advertisement. Pyskaland Sviss ON 32.845 .. JO 32.605 Noregur Polland Ee 35.275 x. Vero tra CY Abo Bolts Finnland Svipjod Vero fra Vero tré kmarkad szetaframboo! = qq z 8 Z 5S 5 z @ z = S LO4 Say where these people are from. 18 z 8 x Inga 3 oe z = z & S LO Example: Wanda er fra Péllandi.< 2. Oo a> oD =) @Q Cc ® Q Q @ Q ° < oO c D Dd O ® ~ ~~ oz » ® oS SS Ne feuinbu In this unit you will learn how to use the courtesy word fyrirgeféu (excuse me) how to say which language(s) you speak / don’t speak how to ask someone which language(s) they speak how to say what your mother tongue is Language points first group of regular verbs (tala (speak) case government of verbs gender of nouns weak declension of feminine nouns (feminine nouns ending in -a)20 g 2 ¢ 2 3 z = 3 o o € 5 ae c 3 s 20 GD Eg tala islensku / speak Icelandic Talarou ensku? Nei, 6g tala bara islensku og dénsku. Kona Fyrirgeféu, talardu ensku? Madur Nei, ég tala ekki ensku. g tala bara fslensku og dénsku. y kona (f.) woman madéur (m.) man fyrirgeféu excuse me, sorry talaréu (talar (from tala) + pu) do you speak ensku (acc. from enska, f.) English tala speak ekki not bara only islensku (acc. from islenska, f.) /celandic dénsku (acc. from danska, f.) Danish Pronunciation Be careful when you pronounce ekki - it is pronounced as if it was written ehki. Remember that the letters kk are always pronounced as hk. The easiest way to pronounce the word is to do it in two steps: eh — ki. Opi6 taliéd mjdg gdda islensku! You speak Icelandic very well! Bjorn’s sister, Kristin, chats to Christof and Anna. Kristin —_Pié taliéd mjdg gdda islensku! Christof Takk! Kristin — Talid pid morg tungumal?Christof Mddurmél mitt er pyska, en ég tala lika ensku, speensku og itdlsku — og svolitla islensku! Kristin Va, pad er aldeilis! En pu Anna, hvaéa tungumédl talar pu? Anna Eg tala hollensku sem modurmél og ég tala lika ensku, pysku og réssnesku — og svotitla fslensku eins og Christof! talié (from tala) speak mjég_ very ga (from g66ur) good mérg many tungumal (n.) /anguage(s) moéurmél (n.) mother tongue mitt (from minn) my pyska (f.) German sspzensku (acc. from spzenska, f.) Spanish itélsku (acc. from italska, f.) /talian svolitla (from svolitill) /ittle, little bit va wow pad er aldeilis! that’s impressive! hvada_ which hollensku (acc. from hollenska, f.) Dutch sem mdéurmél as a mother tongue pysku (acc. from pyska, f.) German rassnesku (acc. from russneska, f.) Russian eins og like Grammar Group 1 regular verbs There are two groups of regular verbs in Icelandic, called here Groups 1 and 2. The verb ad tala (to speak) belongs to Group 1 of regular verbs, which is the larger group. Regular verbs change in a fixed way — their conjugation follows rules. Irregular and strong verbs, however, show some variation — their conjugation only partially follows rules. To conjugate tegular verbs you add fixed endings to the stem of the verb (i.e. the main part of the verb). You find the stem of the verb by leaving off the final -a, so the stem of tala is tal-. The endings in this group of regular verbs are: singular -a, -ar, -ar, plural “4m, -id, -a. To conjugate the verb a0 tala you therefore add these endings to the stem tal: 2 4 z 5 z z @ € 2 3 20angieier po 1eunBuny egeay 20 G aé tala to speak ég tala | speak pd talar you speak hann / hin / paé talar he / she / it speaks vid tolum* we speak pid talid you speak peir / pzer / pau tala they speak *The following rule applies in Icelandic for all types of words (verbs, nouns etc.): when there is an a in the stem and an ending beginning with u is added, then the a always changes to 6. Once you’ve learnt the endings of this group, you know how to conjugate the majority of verbs in Icelandic! Case government of verbs As mentioned before, most verbs in Icelandic take a particular case, i.e. the noun that follows a verb has to be in a particular case. The majority of verbs take the accusative case (like me in English he hit me) and | advise you to memorize those verbs which take the dative or the genitive (very few take the genitive!). Gender Nouns in Icelandic are either masculine, feminine or neuter. In some cases the gender of a noun is ‘natural’, i.e. if a noun refers to a woman then that noun is feminine (kona (woman)) and if a noun refers to a man then that noun is masculine (madur (man)). In most cases, however, the gender is grammatical, i.e. the gender is decided based on the form of the noun and not its meaning. The endings of nouns can often help you to decide which gender the noun is: gender endings* examples masculine -ur, -(in)n, -{i)r, -(ar)i, dagur (day), himinn (sky), -i, (I, {n)n leeknir (docton, kennari (teacher), simi (telephone), bill (can, steinn (stone)feminine —_-a, (-un), (-ing) fidiskylda (family), versiun (shop), syning (show, exhibition) neuter {-ad), many one-syllable blad (paper), land nouns (nouns with one (country), mal (speech), vowel) and compound tungumal, (sland. nouns where the latter part is a one-syllable noun “Letters in brackets are part of the stem of the noun; letters outside brackets are the (actual) ending. Note - These rules for endings have some exceptions, though these are very few. If you don’t want to learn all the endings at once, then start with the most common ones: masculine: -ur; feminine: -a (you can use the words madur and kona to help you remember!). Weak feminine nouns All nouns in Icelandic have four forms, one for each case (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive). For some nouns these four forms are different from each other, but for some nouns some of the forms can be identical. The process of putting nouns in their four case forms is called declension. Most feminine words in Icelandic end in -a. The declension of these words is called a weak declension: the ending -u is added to the stem in accusative, dative and genitive. You find the stem of nouns by leaving off the ending, here by leaving off -a: ltaly woman Icelandic family Inga Anna Nominative ftalia kona islenska fjélskylda Inga Anna -a accusative /talfu konu islensku fjdlskyldu Ingu Onnu -u dative italiu konu — islensku fjélskyldu ingu Onnu -u genitive italiu konu — islensku fjélskyldu Ingu Onnu -u In the vocabulary lists throughout the book the case will be given for weak feminine nouns if they are not in the nominative case. The names of the languages are all feminine words ending in -a. Remember that the verb tala takes accusative and we therefore say: Eg tala islensku (I speak Icelandic) ensku (English) 23 5 3 S 5 5 & Z 2 A 20z 3 € 5 a < 3 = 20 bysku (German) hollensku (Dutch) frénsku (French) spensku (Spanish) itélsku (Italian) russnesku (Russian) dénsku (Danish) portigélsku (Portuguese) norsku (Norwegian) sensku (Swedish) finnsku (Finnish) polsku (Polish) tékknesku (Czech) ungversku (Hungarian) ramensku (Rumanian) bulgérsku (Bulgarian) grisku (Greek) tyrknesku (Turkish) eistnesku (Estonian) kinversku (Chinese) japonsku (Japanese) telensku (That) kéresku (Korean) Language notes © The rule we met on p. 22 also applies here: the a in the stem changes to 6 if an ending beginning with u is added: italska becomes itélsku, franska becomes frénsku, danska becomes dénsku, portagalska becomes portagilsku, japanska becomes japénsku (note that only the a in the syllable next to the ending changes), bilgarska becomes bulgérsku. . ie words for languages are all written without a capital letter. Practice GB 1 You need to ask for directions and you decide to ask a man you meet in the street. You are not confident enough to communicate with him only in Icelandic so you ask in Icelandic if he speaks English. You (Say ‘Excuse me, do you speak English?’) Man Nei, ég tala bara islensku og ddnsku. You (Say ‘! also speak Danish!)B2 Listen to, or read, the dialogue again, and answer these questions. a Hvad talar Christof mérg tungumdl? b Hvada tungumal talar Anna? | 3 You meet a man called Magnus. Greet him and ask him where he comes from and which languages he speaks. Try to work out what his answers mean. CB 4 Can you say the following in Icelandic? He speaks Icelandic, Danish and Swedish. They don’t speak English. Which languages does he speak? They only speak French. Does Anna also speak Icelandic? enoge 25 > 3 af xe 3 a © a DB 20OIPUE|9O] S| JBUJOLW S,WO!g Suds! 419 g ewwew suiol In this unit you will learn + how to say which nationality you are how to refer to members of your family + how to refer to your male and female friends, your boyfriend / girlfriend, your husband / wife Language points * possessive pronouns in masculine and feminine, singular, nominative (minn, min...) + definite articles in the nominative (-inn, -in, -id)CD Pjdéerni Nationality Kerasta Bjérns, Gudrin, og besti vinur Bjérns, Gunnar, hitta Christof og Onnu. Gudrdn Hee og velkomin til islands! Christof Takk! Guérén Christof, ert pu ekki pyskur? Christof JU, ég er pyskur. Gunnar En pu Anna, ert pu lika pysk? Anna Nei, 6g er hollensk. Gunnar Ja, ertu hollensk?! Pabbi minn er Hollendingur! keerasta (f.) ginfriend Bjérns (from Bjorn) Bjémn’s besti (from bestur) best vinur (m.) male friend hitta meet byskur German (masculine form) jG yes (answer to a negative question) bysk (from pyskur) German (feminine form) hollensk (from hollenskur) Dutch (feminine form) pabbi(m.) father, dad minn my (masculine form) Hollendingur (m.) Dutchman Pronunciation Be careful when you pronounce the name Gudrun. It is pronounced as if it were spelt Gyudrtin - Gud (God) and words based on Gud are always pronounced with v inserted after the g. Language notes * Note that in Icelandic there are two words for friend, vinur (male friend) and vinkona (female friend). Boyfriend and girlfriend are kerasti and kerasta — keer means dear, beloved. . If you want to answer ‘yes’ to a negative question (a question with ekki) then you have to use ju. 27 3 a 3 a a 2 oO 3 a g £028 3 a 3 3 a 2 o 3 a 2 €0 Fjdlskylda Bjérns Bjérn’s family langamma ‘, langafi Inga fe Olafur J amma afi Gunnhildur Ceifur mamma pabbi Inga Kari Oo Fjdlskylda Bjérns er mjég stor. Pabbi hans heitir Kari og mamma hans heitir Inga. Pau eru foreldrar Bjérns. Amma hans heitir Gunnhildur og afi hans heitir Leifur. Bjorn 4 lika langommu og langafa - langamma hans heitir Inga (eins og mamma hans) og langafi hans heitir Olafur. Bjorn 4 tvé systkini. Systir hans heitir Kristin og brédir hans heitir J6n. Kristin er gift og madurinn hennar heitir Pér. Kristin og Pér eru hjon. Pau eiga eitt barn, stelpu sem heitir Asta. Asta er franka Bjérns. Jon er giftur og konan hans heitir Elin. Pau eiga lika eitt barn, strak sem heitir Magnus. Magnis er fraendi Bjérns. bs =, HE y on = Or @ stkur x freendi Magnus: stor big foreldrar (p|.) parents hans his amma (f.) grandmother8 afi(m.) granofather a (from eiga, + acc.) has, owns langamma (f.) great-grandmother tvé two langafi (m.) great-grandfather systkini (pl.) siblings, brothers and sisters systir (f.) sister brddir (m.) brother gift/giftur married madéur (m.) man, husband hennar her hjén (pl.) married couple barn (n.) child stelpa (f.) girl sem who fraenka (f.) cousin, can also mean aunt, female relative kona (f.) woman; wife eitt one strakur (m.) boy, can also mean guy freendi(m.) cousin, can also mean uncle, male relative déttir (f.) daughter sonur (m.) son :3 3 3 3 @ 2 oi 3 a 2 €0 Pronunciation Be careful when you pronounce barn. It is pronounced as if it were spelt bardn or badn. Remember that the letters rn are always pronounced rdn or dn (dn only in common words). Language notes * The words mamma and pabbi do not only correspond to ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ in English; they also mean ‘mother’ and ‘father’. In Icelandic there are also the words modir and fadir, but these sound very formal when used. Sometimes the word eiginmadur is used for husband, but it is quite formal. Sometimes the word eiginkona is used for ‘wife’, but like eiginmadur it sounds formal when used. There is no word in Icelandic corresponding to English ‘grandparents’ - you have to say afi og amma (‘grandfather and grandmother’).© Pau eru gift (they are married) has the same meaning as Pau eru hj6n (they are a married couple). 30 ee ¢ When referring to a woman being married you use gift. When a3 referring to a man being married you can use either giftur or o kventur. Many people (especially the older generation) o consider it more correct to use kvzntur. a 3 Grammar Nationalities © | If you’ve forgotten these countries’ names, look at the lists in G2} Unit 1. Country Adjective Nationality {sland islenskur / islensk islendingur England enskur / ensk Englendingur Bretland breskur / bresk Breti Noregur norskur / norsk Nordmaéur Danméork danskur / dénsk Dani Svipjo6 seenskur / seensk Svii Finnland finnskur / finnsk Finni Pyskaland byskur / pysk Pjddverji Frakkland franskur / fronsk Frakki Spann spzenskur / spzensk Spanverji Portugal portugalskur / portugdisk Portugali italia italskur / itélsk ftati Holland hollenskur / hollensk Hollendingur Austurriki austurriskur / austurrisk Austurrikismadéur Sviss svissneskur / svissnesk Svisslendingur Belgia belgiskur / beigisk Belgi / Belgiumaéur irland irskur / irsk iri Greenland grzenlenskur / graenlensk Greenlendingur Russland rassneskur / rissnesk Russi Péiland polskur / pélsk Polverji Tékkland tékkneskur / tékknesk Tékki Ungverjaland —ungverskur / ungversk Ungverji Rumenia ramenskur / rimensk Rumeni Bulgaria bulgarskur / bulgérsk Bulgari Grikkland griskur / grisk Grikki Bandarikin bandariskur / bandarisk BandarikjamaéurAmerika amerfskur / amerisk Amerikani / Amerikumaéur Kanada kanadiskur / kanadisk Kanadabui Mexik6 mexikéskur / mexikésk; Mexikéi / mexikanskur / mexik6nsk Mexikani Brasilia brasiliskur / brasilfsk Brasiliumadur Argentina argentinskur / argentinsk Argentinumaéur Sudur-Afrika — sudur-afr{skur / s-afrisk Sudur-Afrikubui Astralia Astralskur / Astrdlsk Astrali Tyrkland tyrkneskur / tyrknesk Tyrki Kina kinverskur / kinversk Kinverji Japan japanskur /japénsk Japani Korea kéreskur / koresk Kéreubti Indland indverskur / indversk Indverji Teland taelenskur / taelensk Teelendingur Eistland eistneskur / eistnesk Eisti / Eistlendingur Lettland lettneskur / lettnesk Letti / Lettlendingur Language notes * The masculine form of the adjective ends in -ur and the feminine form is the stem of the adjective (which you get by dropping the ending -ur). If the masculine form has a in the stem, then that a changes to 6 in the feminine form. ¢ The nationality adjectives are all written without a capital letter. * The a to 6 sound change rule does not apply when the word is in the masculine nominative singular. In the word danskur, for example, the ending is -ur but the a is not changed to 6. Definite article There is no indefinite article (a, an in English) in Icelandic. We therefore say Bjérn er strakur (Bjdrn is a guy) without an article. There is a definite article (like the in English) in Icelandic, which 18 added to the end of the noun: madur (4 man), madurinn (the man). The definite article has different forms depending on the 8ender, the number and the case of the noun it is added to. ese are the forms in the nominative singular: a = 3 3 3 5 3 = z 3 £0a suais} aa swolg ewwew £0 definite article examples masculine = -(i)nn madurinn the man siminn the telephone feminine -(i)n versiunin the shop konan the woman neuter (IS barnid the child Tip ~ The masculine form has double n like hann, the feminine has one n like hun and the neuter has 6 like bad. Note — If the noun ends in a vowel in the nominative then the -i- of the definite article is dropped. Possessive pronouns (my, your ...) The possessive pronouns (in nominative, singular, masculine and feminine) are: possessive pronoun examples first person minn betta er pabbi minn. (masculine) This is my father. first person min betta er mamma min. (feminine) This is my mother. second person = pinn Er betta pabbi pinn? (masculine) Js this your father? second person pin Er betta mamma pin? (feminine) Js this your mother? third person hans Petta er pabbi hans. (masculine) This is his father. Petta er mamma hans. This is his mother. third person hennar Petta er pabbi hennar. (feminine) This is her father. Petta er mamma hennar. This is her mother. Tip — The masculine forms minn/pinn end in double n and have no superscript mark, like hann, and the feminine forms min/pint end in one n and have a superscript mark like han.