Language/Icelandic/Grammar/Definite-Article

The Definite Article in Icelandic

You may not have learned this at school, but in English the word “the” is called a definite article. That is because the word “the” points to a very specific thing. For example, you may tell someone, “I want the book,” assuming that they will bring you the book you have in mind.

However, if you tell them, “I want a book,” you will get whatever book they choose to hand you! That is because the words “a” or “an” or “some” are indefinite articles and point to a general group of items, things, people or places.

Icelandic is unusual in that it does not have an indefinite article. It does have a definite article and unlike English, the definite article is not placed in front of the noun but is attached to its end like a suffix. You should first decline a noun and then add the article. The definite article varies per case, gender and number.

The definite article (the) is suffixed to the noun and its declensions, instead of preceding it as a separate word as in English. The table below shows the definite article and its various declensions that need to be added to the end of each form of the noun:

singular	masculine		feminine		neuter
	-ur, -I, -n	-i	no ending	-a
nominative	inn	nn	in	n	ið
accusative	inn	nn	ina	na	ið
dative	num	num	inni	nni	nu
genitive	ins	ns	innar	nnar	ins

 

plural	masculine		feminine		neuter
	-ur, -I, -n	-i	no ending	-a
nominative	nir	nar	nar	nar	in
accusative	na	nar	nar	nar	in
dative	num	num	num	num	num
genitive	nna	nna	nna	nna	nna

 

The definite forms of the five nouns given above, with the definite article attached to the end:

singular	masculine		feminine		neuter
	-ur, -I, -n	-i	no ending	-a
nominative	bíllinn	nemendinn	rósina	kirkjan	barnið
accusative	bíllinn	nemandann	rósinni	kirkjuni	barnið
dative	bílnum	nemandanum	rósinna	kirkjunna	barninu
genitive	bílsins	nemandans	rósarinnar	kirkjunnir	barnsins

   

plural	masculine		feminine			neuter
	-ur, -I, -n	-i		no ending	-a
nominative	bílarnir	nemendurnir		rósirnar	kirkjurnar	börnin
accusative	bílana	nemendurna		rósirnar	kirkjurnar	börnin
dative	bílunum	nemendunum		rósunum	kirkjunum	börnunum
genitive	bílanna	nemandanna		rósanna	kirkjanna	barnanna

Sources

Book: Learn to Speak Icelandic: without even trying, Stephen Hernandez

Other Lessons

• Pronouns
• Icelandic Articles
• Negation
• Adverbs
• Conditional Mood
• Nouns
• Adjectives
• Verbs
• Prepostitions
• Prepositions
• Gender
• Articles
• Questions
• Possession