Case Usages

Now that you know how to form the cases using singular weak nouns, it is time to learn a little more about how to use them.

Nominative

As you may have noticed, the nominative case is the most common case. Most verbs in Icelandic want their subjects to be in the nominative case, so you will commonly see nominative case nouns and pronouns starting sentences, since the subject of the sentence typically comes first.

Example 1: Hann talar. - (He speaks.)
Example 2: Við borðum. - (We eat.)

A common exception is for the verbs að heita and að vera, which typically want nominative objects, too!

Note: This is an over-simplification, but it generally golds true for 90% of the time.

Example 3: Hann er Siggi. - (He is Siggi.)
Example 4: Hann heitir Siggi. - (His name is Siggi.)

Accusative

The accusative case is the second most common case. Its main usage is as verbs' direct objects. If a word is the object of a verb or preposition and you do not know what case that verb or preposition wants, you can usually guess accusative and have a decent chance of being correct.

Example 1: Ég tala íslensku. - (I speak Icelandic.)
Example 2: Hann elskar Sigga. - (He loves Siggi.)
Example 3: Ég borða köku! - (I eat cake.)

Dative

The dative case is the third most common case. It has two main uses.

First, some verbs want dative direct objects, but these are rarer than those that want accusative objects.

Example 1: Ég kasta bolta. - (I throw a ball.)
Example 2: Hann hjálpar mömmu. - (He helps mom.)

But dative's main usage is as indirect objects of verbs. Indirect objects come after verbs but before the direct objects. Indirect objects typically show to who or for who the verb is undertaken.

Example 3: Ég gef mömmu köku. - (You give mom cake.)
Example 4: Hann gefur Sigga penna. - (He gives Siggi a pen.)

Genitive

The genitive case is not often used as a direct or indirect object. Its usages will be described further in later lessons.

Example: Ég sanka pabba. - (I miss dad.)