Adjectives Like lítill and gamall

Level 3

gamall → gamlan, gömlum, gömul, gamalt. lítill → lítinn, litlum, lítil, lítið.

How It Works

gamall (old), strong forms (masculine · feminine · neuter)

  • Nominative: gamall · gömul · gamalt
  • Accusative: gamlan · gamla · gamalt
  • Dative: gömlum · gamalli · gömlu
  • Genitive: gamals · gamallar · gamals
  • Plural: gamlir, gamlar, gömul · dative gömlum

lítill (small), strong forms (masculine · feminine · neuter)

  • Nominative: lítill · lítil · lítið
  • Accusative: lítinn · litla · lítið
  • Dative: litlum · lítilli · litlu
  • Genitive: lítils · lítillar · lítils
  • Plural: litlir, litlar, lítil · dative litlum

mikill (big, much) works like lítill but keeps its short i: mikill, mikinn, miklum, mikils; feminine mikil; neuter mikið.

Three things to notice

  • The second vowel drops before a vowel ending: gaml-an, litl-um, mikl-ir.
  • In gamall, a becomes ö when a u follows or used to follow: gömlum, gömlu, gömul (The A-to-Ö Change).
  • The masculine accusative ends in -an for gamall (gamlan) but -nn for lítill and mikill (lítinn, mikinn).

Weak forms
gamli, gamla, gömlu and litli, litla, litlu: gamli maðurinn (the old man), litla systir mín (my little sister). See Adjectives Before a Definite Noun.

Adjectives in -inn, like fyndinn (funny), also drop the vowel: fyndnir, fyndnum.

Examples (6)

  1. Ég á lítinn hund.

    I have a little dog.

    Word by Word: I own little dog.

    hund is accusative masculine, so lítill becomes lítinn.

  2. Við búum í gömlu húsi.

    We live in an old house.

    Word by Word: We live in old house.

    húsi is dative neuter. The ending -u turns a into ö: gömlu.

  3. Hún er ekki gömul.

    She is not old.

    Word by Word: She is not old.

  4. Barnið er lítið.

    The child is small.

    Word by Word: The-child is small.

  5. Það var mikill snjór í gær.

    There was a lot of snow yesterday.

    Word by Word: It was much snow in yesterday.

  6. Litla systir mín er fimm ára.

    My little sister is five.

    Word by Word: Little sister my is five years.

    litla is the weak feminine form of lítill.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the full stem before an ending.

    Ég á lítilan hund.
    Ég á lítinn hund.

    The masculine accusative of lítill is lítinn. Other vowel endings use the short stem litl-: litlum, litla.

  • Using the masculine form for a woman.

    Hún er gamall.
    Hún er gömul.

    The feminine of gamall is gömul, with ö and a single l.

  • Forgetting to drop the vowel and change a to ö.

    Við búum í gamalu húsi.
    Við búum í gömlu húsi.

    Before the ending -u, the second a drops and the first a becomes ö: gömlu.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Adjectives Like lítill and gamallLevel 3

Learn This First

lítill and gamall build on strong adjective endings.

Words in This Pattern

lítillgamallmikillmikilmikið