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 Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:23 pm
ÍSLENSKA! Very colourful. Now, Icelandic, the old language of the Vikings! The language that has, due to isolation, not evolved greatly since the 13th century and still has all the grammar of Latin and Greek and whatnot.
Let's begin with the alphabet (which is a little different from the English one) and pronounciation of the letters.
A - pronounced like the 'a' in 'hard'.
Á - pronounced like the the 'o' in 'wow'.
B - Bé - pronounced the same as in English.
D - Dé - pronounced the same.
Ð/ð - Eð - pronounced as a soft 'th', like in 'the'. Never used in the beginning of words.
E - pronounced like the 'e' in 'escort'.
É - pronounced like 'ye'.
F - Eff - pronounced the same.
G - Gé - never pronounced like the 'g' in 'gin', it's either soft (try pronouncing 'gh' softly confused ) or hars like in 'go' or 'egg'.
H - Há - pronounced the same.
I - pronounced like the 'i' in 'in'.
Í - pronounced like 'ee'.
J - Joð - never pronounced like the English 'j', always soft like the 'y' in 'yo'.
K - Ká - pronounced the same, I think.
L - Ell - now here's a tricky letter. When single, it's pronounced like in English, but when double, it can either be pronounced like a long, soft 'l' sound or a sort of a clicking sound that is very hard to explain.. I have yet to find out whether there's any definite rule to when it's soft and when it's hard.
M - Emm - the same.
N - Enn - the same.
O - pronounced like the 'a' in 'all'.
Ó - pronounced like the English 'o'.
P - Pé - the same.
R - Err - Icelandic has a trilled 'r' similar to the Italian one.
S - Ess - the same.
T - Té - the same when single, but when it's double it sounds much harder than in English. Sort of like midway a harsh double 'd' and a double 't'. confused
U - pronounced like the 'u' in 'uh'.
Ú - pronounced like the 'u' in 'you'.
V - Vaff - the same.
X - Ex - the same.
Y - pronounced exactly the same as the Icelandic 'i'.
Ý - pronounced exactly the same as the Icelandic 'í'.
Þ - Þorn - pronounced like a harsh 'th', a bit harder than in 'thou'.
Æ - pronounced like 'aye'.
Ö - pronounced like the 'u' in 'bun'.
If you understand phonetics, Wikipedia has a very thorough article here on the Icelandic language with phonetics that I can't understand at all. xD
But anyway, those are all the letters of the Icelandic alphabet, if you have any questions, fire away! If you have troubles pronouncing things, I have Skype and so I can help you better through that because some of those are quite hard to explain.
Here's some basic vocabulary to start out with as well, try pronouncing these words using the alphabet as a guide. 3nodding
Greetings:
Hæ = Hi
Halló = Hello
Góðan daginn = Good day or Good morning
(sometimes shortened to "Daginn", like "Morning")
is also used in the afternoon.
Góða kvöldið = Good evening
(also shortened to "Kvöldið" as above)
Góða nótt = Good night
(not usually shortened into "Nótt", like above and in English,
usually you'd use Góða nótt)
Vertu blessaður = Goodbye
rather formal, literally means "be blessed"
Vertu blessaður (m) / Vertu blessuð (f)
Bless = Goodbye
informal, often repeated (Bless, bless!)
Bæ = Goodbye
informal, pronounced like "Bye" in English.
Sjáumst! = See you!
stays the same for all genders/cases.
I'll add some more to this as soon as I find the time. Some grammar and more vocabulary! whee
Sjáumst!
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:25 pm
Grammar!
Verbs - Sagnorð
"Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, person, number and voice. There are three voices: active, passive and medial; but it may be debated whether the medial voice is a voice or simply an independent class of verbs of its own. There are only two simple tenses, past and present, but to make up for that there are a number of auxiliary constructions, some of which may be regarded as tenses, others as aspects to varying degrees." (stolen from wiki's article on the Icelandic language)
Like with most languages, Icelandic has quite a few irregular verbs and, as with most languages, that includes the verbs "að vera" (to be) and "að hafa" (to have).
að vera (present):
1.p.sing. (ég) er
2.p.sing. (þú) ert
3.p.sing. (hann/hún/það) er
1.p.plur. (við) erum
2.p.plur. (þið) eruð
3.p.plir. (þeir/þær/þau) eru
að hafa (present):
1.p.sing. (ég) hef
2.p.sing. (þú) hefur
3.p.sing. (hann/hún/það) hefur
1.p.plur. (við) höfum
2.p.plur. (þið) hafið
3.p.plur. (þeir/þær/þau) hafa
(For now, we'll just cover the present tense I think, and save the past and future for later.)
Regular verbs:
to eat:
1.p.sing. (ég) borða
2.p.sing. (þú) borðar
3.p.sing. (hann/hún/það) borðar
1.p.plur. (við) borðum
2.p.plur. (þið) borðið
3.p.plur. (þeir/þær/þau) borða
to write:
1.p.sing. (ég) skrifa
2.p.sing. (þú) skrifar
3.p.sing. (hann/hún/það) skrifar
1.p.plur. (við) skrifum
2.p.plur. þið) skrifið
3.p.plur. (þeir/þær/þau) skrifa
You try filling this one in! Post your answers! :]
to draw:
1.p.sing. (ég) teikna
2.p.sing. (þú)
3.p.sing. (hann/hún/það)
1.p.plur. (við)
2.p.plur. (þið)
3.p.plur. (þeir/þær/þau)
However, there aren't that many regular verbs in Icelandic, seems most of them are irregular (either that or my brain's reaaaally toasted right now, cause all the verbs that come to mind are irregular). So, enough with verbs for now! More vocabulary!
Vocabulary
Introduction:
Ég heiti... = My name is...
Hvað heitir þú? = What's your name?
Ég er ... ára gamall = I am ... years old
gamall (m) gömul (f)
Ég er íslenskur = I am Icelandic
íslenskur (m) íslensk (f)
Ég er frá .... = I am from ...
Ég er í skóla = I am in school
Ég er ekki í skóla = I am not in school
Ég er að vinna = I am working
Áhugamálin mín eru... = My hobbies/interests are...
Tölvur = Computers
Tungumál = Languages
Íþróttir = Sports
Tónlist = Music
Kvikmyndir = Movies
Ljósmyndun = Photography
Trúarbrögð = Religions
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:26 pm
Numbers - Tölur
1-10
Masc. - Fem. - Neutr.
1 - Einn - ein - eitt
2 - Tveir - tvær - tvö
3 - Þrír - þrjár - þrjú
4 - Fjórir - fjórar - fjögur
(It's only the first four that aren't the same with all genders.)
5 - Fimm
6 - Sex
7 - Sjö
8 - Átta
9 - Níu
10 - Tíu
11 - Ellefu
12 - Tólf
13 - Þrettán
14 - Fjórtán
15 - Fimmtán
16 - Sextán
17 - Sautján
18 - Átján
19 - Nítján
20 - Tuttugu
21 - Tuttugu-og-einn
22 - Tuttugu-og-tveir
23 - Tuttugu-og-þrír
24 - Tuttugu-og-fjórir
etc.
(Those numbers are said more like 'Tuttug'ogeinn', with soft g's all over)
30 - Þrjátíu
31 - Þrjátíu-og-einn
32 - Þrjátíu-og-tveir
etc.
40 - Fjörtíu
50 - Fimmtíu
60 - Sextíu
70 - Sjötíu
80 - Áttatíu
90 - Nítíu
100 - Hundrað
200 - Tvöhundruð ('hundruð' because it's plural..)
300 - Þrjúhundruð
400 - Fjögurhundruð
500 - Fimmhundruð
600 - Sexhundruð
700 - Sjöhundruð
800 - Áttahundruð
900 - Níuhundruð
1000 - Þúsund or Eittþúsund*
2000 - Tvöþúsund
3000 - Þrjúþúsund
4000 - Fjögurþúsund
5000 - Fimmþúsund
6000 - Sexþúsund
7000 - Sjöþúsund
8000 - Áttaþúsund
9000 - Níuþúsund
*Þúsund is more used if you're just saying a thousand, just like in English. Eittþúsund is more used, like 'one thousand' when you're using it in bigger numbers.. 'Eittþúsund-þrjúhundruð-og-tveir', just like in English, 'One thousand-threehundred-and-two'.
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:28 pm
More grammars! Now, it's..
Nouns (Nafnorð):
"Nouns are declined for case, number and gender [...] They declinate in four cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive) and vary in gender (Masculine, Feminine or Neuter) and number (Singular and Plural). There are two main declension paradigms for each gender: Strong and Weak nouns, that are furthermore divided in smaller paradigms for declension, according to many criteria (sound-shifts, consonant clusters etc.)"
(stolen from wiki's article on the Icelandic language)
Nouns in Icelandic are quite tricky, but similar to nouns in Latin, basically. Latin also declinates nouns into Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genetive, but that's probably one of the trickiest things, that is, knowing when to use what declension.
I have to confess I'm not sure about the difference between strong and weak nouns, so I'll teach you about them later, when I finally get off my butt and actually study the Icelandic grammar. ;]
But first of all, it's important to learn which gender words are part of! If you don't know that you're going to mess up the declension!
Examples:
______Maður* (human)______Hestur (horse)_____Bátur (boat)
nom. Maður________________Hestur_____________Bátur
acc. _Mann_________________Hest_______________Bát
dat. _Manni________________Hesti_______________Bát
gen. Manns________________Hests______________Báts
______Kona (woman) f._____Taska (bag, purse)_______Tölva (computer)
nom. Kona________________Taska____________________Tölva
acc. _Konu________________Tösku____________________Tölvu
dat. _Konu________________Tösku____________________Tölvu
gen. Konu_________________Tösku___________________Tölvu
______Barn (child) n._______Borð (desk, table)________Orð (word)
nom. Barn________________Borð _____________________Orð
acc. _Barn________________Borð______________________Orð
dat. _Barni_______________Borði _____________________Orði
gen. _Barns______________Borðs_____________________Orðs
*Maður is the word for human, but most people confuse it with english 'man' and use it for 'man'. Right Icelandic for man would be Karlmaður. Yes I'm a language Nazi and this bothers me.
So! Male words first because we are raised in a sexist world and that's how things usually work!
As you can see, usually you'll need the core, or base of the word (not sure what to call it), and that you can usually get "clean" in the accusative. Hestur - Hest so Hest would be the base. Then you just add the endings to that! That differs in Maður, which would actually probably be irregular now that I think of it, but then again, almost everything in Icelandic is!
In Bátur, you don't add the i in accusative, it's another form of declension but I decided to keep it with Hestur anyway since it's so similar. Icelandic grammar is confusing, bear with me here! ;]
Female nouns! Again, find the base of the word, in the case of Kona, it would be Kon and then add the ending to that. The female nouns seem to have the easiest endings since it's mostly the same, but don't get lazy now and try to guess all the time, it's better to learn it once and for all :]
Neutral nouns! Again, you need the base, and those neutral words are pretty much the base in nominative. You just add i's and s's in the last two, easy enough!
The nouns above are only a few and the most regular I could think of. I'll add some more on a list and then you'll try to declinate them yourself!
Male: Garður (garden, yard, park), Diskur (plate), Skápur(-i)* (cupboard), Strákur(-i)* (boy)
Female: Peysa (sweater), Tafla (declinates like Taska!)(board), Stelpa (girl)
Neutral: Glas (glass, as in glass of milk), Rúm (bed), Blað (paper)
*The (-i) means that they declinate without the "i" in the dative, like "Bátur".
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:29 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:31 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:33 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:06 pm
YAY! I've been waiting for this. 3nodding
These confuse me a bit. sweatdrop Quote: É - pronounced like 'ye'. G - Gé - never pronounced like the 'g' in 'gin', it's either soft (try pronouncing 'gh' softly icon_confused.gif) or hars like in 'go' or 'egg'.
Is the soft G like in "mirage" (the French J sound)?
And I don't know how to pronounce é. x3
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:51 am
Avis-yam YAY! I've been waiting for this. 3nodding
These confuse me a bit. sweatdrop Quote: É - pronounced like 'ye'. G - Gé - never pronounced like the 'g' in 'gin', it's either soft (try pronouncing 'gh' softly icon_confused.gif) or hars like in 'go' or 'egg'.
Is the soft G like in "mirage" (the French J sound)?
And I don't know how to pronounce é. x3 Oh man, these two are so hard to explain. But 'ye' is very close to how é sounds, you know, like in the song! Oh come, all ye faithful...
The soft G is.. gah! It's not like the french g, no. It's sort of like.. you put the back part of your tongue up to your soft palate, almost at the throat, and then you sort of.. blow through it, its very 'airy'. But sometimes, G sounds like Y, like before I.
Magi (stomach) = Mah-yi
Laga (to fix) = Lah-gha (the airy one)
Garður (garden, park) = Garth-ur (harsh one)
Don't know if this makes any more sense.. confused
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:50 pm
ljosberinn Avis-yam YAY! I've been waiting for this. 3nodding
These confuse me a bit. sweatdrop Quote: É - pronounced like 'ye'. G - Gé - never pronounced like the 'g' in 'gin', it's either soft (try pronouncing 'gh' softly icon_confused.gif) or hars like in 'go' or 'egg'.
Is the soft G like in "mirage" (the French J sound)?
And I don't know how to pronounce é. x3 Oh man, these two are so hard to explain. But 'ye' is very close to how é sounds, you know, like in the song! Oh come, all ye faithful...
The soft G is.. gah! It's not like the french g, no. It's sort of like.. you put the back part of your tongue up to your soft palate, almost at the throat, and then you sort of.. blow through it, its very 'airy'. But sometimes, G sounds like Y, like before I.
Magi (stomach) = Mah-yi
Laga (to fix) = Lah-gha (the airy one)
Garður (garden, park) = Garth-ur (harsh one)
Don't know if this makes any more sense.. confused
The G sounds difficult. I'll have to hear someone say it to replicate the sound myself. sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:30 am
Oh hey! Do you know any German? It's sort of like the 'ch' in 'ach', just a little bit softer.
If it still doesn't make any sense, my Skype nick is ljosberinn sweatdrop
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:25 pm
ljosberinn Oh hey! Do you know any German? It's sort of like the 'ch' in 'ach', just a little bit softer.
If it still doesn't make any sense, my Skype nick is ljosberinn sweatdrop
Ohh, I think I do know what you mean now, but since I don't study/know German, the sound's still difficult for me. sweatdrop
I used to have Skype, but I dunno what happened to it.
That reminds me, I wanna PM you my address soon (if I remember). I just got my first letter from a penpal today, so I've only now discovered the joys of penpal-ing. whee
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Eccentric Iconoclast Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:30 pm
You wrote that "e" is pronounced like the "ea" in "tear," but did you mean like the tear that you cry or tear as in rip? They're pronounced differently. sweatdrop
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:00 am
Oh s**t, you're right. I guess it wasn't a very good example. It's like the 'e' in 'escort', that's better I guess. 3nodding
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Eccentric Iconoclast Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:14 am
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