Adjectives
What Are Adjectives
An adjective is a part of speech that describes or modifies a noun by providing additional information about its qualities, characteristics, or attributes. Adjectives can convey information about many different characteristics, such as size, color, shape, age, origin, material, etc.
Example 1: The friendly Icelandic man ate an orange fish. Example 2: The small woman quickly jumped over a big hole.
In the examples above, there bolded words help to paint a more vivid idea of the noun they are accompanying.
In Icelandic, adjectives are much simpler than nouns. As with previous lessons, the tables here will not cover every posssible inflection you enocounter, but it should over most wrds and provide a great starting point for understanding any adjective you encounter.
Adjective Usage
Adjectives can appear in one of two ways: strong and weak. This strong/weak dicotomy is not simialr to strong and weak nouns nor strong and weak verbs. This the third--and final--different way that the terms strong and weak are used. The same adjective will decline differntly depending on whether the sitatuon calls for a strong or a weak adjective and whether the adjective is being used descriptively (right next to a nominal) or predicatively (on teh other side of a verb).
Strong Adjective Forms
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | -ur, -n | Ö | -t |
| Acc. | -an | -a | -t |
| Dat. | -um | -ri, -ni | -u |
| Gen. | -s | -rar,-nar | -s |
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | -ir | -ar | Ö |
| Acc. | -a | -ar | Ö |
| Dat. | -um | -um | -um |
| Gen. | -ra, -na | -ra, -na | -ra, -na |
Tip:Be awaye of teh possibility of syncope occuring in the endings.
The second pattern is for nouns ending -nn.
Strong adjectives are used descriptively with indefinite nouns.
Example 1: Sterkur hestur borðar epli. - (A strong horse eats apples.)
Example 2: Falleg kona talar íslensku. - (I pretty woman speaks Icelandic.)
Example 3: Ég þekki góðan lækni. - (I know a good doctor.)
Strong adjectives are also used predicatively with all nominals. Typically, the seperating verb is að vera.
Example 1: Jón er sterkur. - (Jón is strong.)
Example 2: Hún er hreinn. - (She is clean)
Example 3: Apinn er ekki hreinn. - (The monkey is not clean.)
Weak Adjective Forms
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | -i | -a | -a |
| Acc. | -a | -u | -a |
| Dat. | -a | -u | -a |
| Gen. | -a | -u | -a |
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | -u | -u | -u |
| Acc. | -u | -u | -u |
| Dat. | -u | -u | -u |
| Gen. | -u | -u | -u |
The singular pattern here shoud look extremely familiar! Weak adjectives in the sinuglar follow the same pattern as weak nouns! Also, the plural only has one form.
Weak forms are used descriptively with definite nouns.
Example 1: Sterki hesturinn borðar epli. - (The strong horse eats apples.)
Example 2: Fallega konan talar íslensku. - (The pretty woman speaks Icelandic.)
Example 3: Ég þekki góða lækninn. - (I know the good doctor.)