Þetta, Hver, and Hvað

Þetta, Hvað, and Hver allow you to identify things.

Þetta

Þetta is the neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun, þessi. While its overall usages are a bit more complete, for now, all you need to know is that you use þetta to identify something. For this exact purpose, English uses the words this, that, these, and those, but Icelandic just uses þetta. Unlike in English, Icelandic doesn't differentiate between close things (this and these) and things that are far away (that and those).

Example 1: Þetta er penni. - (This is a pen.)
Example 2: Þetta er tölva. - (This is a computer.)
Example 3: Þetta eru penni og tölva. - (These are a pen and a computer.)

In example 3, you likely noticed that the form eru is used instead of er. This is done because there are two words on the other side of the verb. As you can see by the English translation, the same thing happens in English.

Hvað and Hver

Hvað is a special form of the word hver. For these basic identifying sentences, you can think of hvað as meaning what, and hver as meaning who.

Example 1: Hvað er þetta? - (What is that?)
Example 2: Hver er þetta? - (Who is that?)

Note: You can only use "hver" to ask who a single person is. More about "hver" will be revealed in a future lesson.

Now I Know:

• how to identify something using þetta
• how to ask what something is using hvað
• how to ask who somebody is using hver