If you're trying to learn Icelandic Plural you will find some useful resources including a course about Plural and Singular... to help you with your Icelandic grammar. Try to concentrate on the lesson and notice the pattern that occurs each time the word changes its place. Also don't forget to check the rest of our other lessons listed on Learn Icelandic. Enjoy the rest of the lesson!
Learning the Icelandic Plural displayed below is vital to the language. Icelandic Plurals are grammatical numbers, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers.
While in English, the plural is formed by adding (s) to the singular.
Icelandic has three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular, plural) and four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive).
Nouns have either a strong or a weak declension, the latter being simpler than the former.
Following are a few examples of declensions. The first two are masculine, the second two feminine. The words are the masculine hlutur (object, thing); nemandi (student), gjöf (gift, present) and saga (story). The neuter declension is similar.
Singular: (strong) (weak) (strong) (weak)
Nom: Hlutur Nemandi Gjöf Saga
Acc: Hlut Nemanda Gjöf Sögu
Dat: Hlut Nemanda Gjöf Sögu
Gen: Hlutar Nemanda Gjafar Sögu
Plural:
Nom: Hlutir Nemendur Gjafir Sögur
Acc: Hluti Nemendur Gjafir Sögur
Dat: Hlutum Nemendum Gjöfum Sögum
Gen: Hluta Nemenda Gjafa Sagna
Notes:
The dative plural always ends in -um. The genitive plural always ends in -a.
In the neuter, the nominative and accusative are always identical.
Vowels often change in the declension (e.g. saga vs. sögu above). This is too complex to cover in a short introduction, but the main point is that a vowel can influence a preceding vowel.
There is no indefinite article but nouns can be made definite by appending an article (nemandinn (the student), sagan (the story).
Here are some examples:
| English Plural | Icelandic Plural |
|---|---|
| Plural | Fleirtala |
| my book | Bókin mín |
| my books | bækurnar mínar |
| our daughter | dóttir okkar |
| our daughters | dætur okkar |
| I'm cold | mér er kalt |
| we're cold | okkur er kalt |
| his chickens | kjúklingarnir hans |
| their chicken | kjúklingarnir þeirra |
Notice the structure of the Plural in Icelandic.
Below is a list of the Plurals and Singulars in Icelandic placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Icelandic vocabulary.
| English Plural | Icelandic Plural |
|---|---|
| alligator | krókódíll |
| alligators | krókódílar |
| bear | björn |
| bears | birnir |
| bird | fugl |
| birds | fuglar |
| bull | naut |
| bulls | naut |
| cat | köttur |
| cats | kettir |
| cow | kýr |
| cows | kýr |
| deer | hjörtur |
| many deer | margir hirtir |
| dog | hundur |
| dogs | hundar |
| donkey | asni |
| donkeys | asnar |
| eagle | örn |
| eagles | ernir |
| elephant | fíll |
| elephants | fílar |
| giraffe | gíraffi |
| giraffes | gíraffar |
| goat | geit |
| goats | geitur |
| horse | hestur |
| horses | hestar |
| lion | ljón |
| lions | ljón |
| monkey | api |
| monkeys | apar |
| mouse | mús |
| mice | mýs |
| rabbit | kanína |
| rabbits | kanínur |
| snake | snákur |
| snakes | snákar |
| tiger | Tígrisdýr |
| tigers | tígrisdýr |
| wolf | úlfur |
| wolves | úlfar |
Plural and Singular have a very important role in Icelandic. Once you're done with Icelandic Plural, you might want to check the rest of our Icelandic lessons here: Learn Icelandic. Don't forget to bookmark this page.
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