Icelandic Names for Foreign Places
Hún flaug til Kaupmannahafnar. (She flew to Copenhagen.) Kaupmannahöfn is Copenhagen, and after til it takes the genitive.
How It Works
Common Icelandic names.
- Kaupmannahöfn (Copenhagen): í Kaupmannahöfn, til Kaupmannahafnar. The name ends in höfn (harbour) and declines like it.
- Stokkhólmur (Stockholm): í Stokkhólmi, til Stokkhólms
- Árósar (Aarhus): í Árósum, til Árósa
- Varsjá (Warsaw): í Varsjá, til Varsjár
- Kraká (Kraków): í Kraká, til Krakár
- Lundúnir (London): í Lundúnum, til Lundúna
- Feneyjar (Venice): í Feneyjum, til Feneyja
Plural names. Lundúnir, Árósar and Feneyjar are plural nouns, like the plural-only nouns buxur and jól. Their dative ends in -um: í Lundúnum, frá Árósum.
Foreign names with Icelandic endings. Many other cities have names close to their foreign ones, and they still take a genitive ending after til: til Parísar, til Rómar, til Berlínar, til Hamborgar, til Oslóar. In the other cases they look unchanged: í París, í Berlín, í Osló.
Everyday use. Kaupmannahöfn and Stokkhólmur are the normal names for everyone. For London, many people simply say London, which does not decline (í London), while careful writing often uses Lundúnir. Recognise both.
í or á? Cities take í: í Varsjá, í Lundúnum. Many islands take á, as Iceland does: á Krít (in Crete). Some take í, such as í Færeyjum (in the Faroe Islands), so learn each one. See á Íslandi and í Reykjavík.
Examples (6)
- Ég bjó í Varsjá í tvö ár.
I lived in Warsaw for two years.
Word by Word: I lived in Warsaw in two years.
- Hún flaug til Kaupmannahafnar í morgun.
She flew to Copenhagen this morning.
Word by Word: She flew to Copenhagen's in morning.
til takes the genitive: Kaupmannahafnar.
- Við gistum eina nótt í Stokkhólmi.
We stayed one night in Stockholm.
Word by Word: We stayed one night in Stockholm.
- Bróðir minn vinnur í Lundúnum.
My brother works in London.
Word by Word: Brother my works in London.
Lundúnum is the dative plural of Lundúnir.
- Lestin fer frá Árósum klukkan átta.
The train leaves Aarhus at eight.
Word by Word: The-train goes from Aarhus o'clock eight.
- Hvenær komuð þið heim frá Feneyjum?
When did you (all) come home from Venice?
Word by Word: When came you home from Venice?
Common Mistakes
Leaving the name in the nominative after til.
Hún flaug til Kaupmannahöfn.Hún flaug til Kaupmannahafnar.til takes the genitive, and Kaupmannahöfn changes like höfn: Kaupmannahafnar.
Treating Lundúnir as if it did not decline.
Bróðir minn vinnur í Lundúnir.Bróðir minn vinnur í Lundúnum.í takes the dative for a location. Lundúnir is plural, so its dative ends in -um.
Forgetting the dative ending of Stokkhólmur.
Við gistum eina nótt í Stokkhólmur.Við gistum eina nótt í Stokkhólmi.Stokkhólmur declines like a masculine noun such as hólmur: the dative is Stokkhólmi.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Place names abroad build on place names.
Related Patterns
- Movement or Location With í and á
í takes the dative for being in a city: í Stokkhólmi, í Lundúnum.
Level 2 - Prepositions With the Genitive
til takes the genitive: til Kaupmannahafnar, til Parísar.
Level 3 - Names Change Form
Personal names decline in the same way place names do.
Level 2 - Plural-Only Nouns (buxur, dyr)
Lundúnir, Árósar and Feneyjar are plural like buxur and jól.
Level 4
Words in This Pattern
Practice Icelandic Names for Foreign Places in Bubblegum
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