Masculine Nouns Without This Ending: -ur (stóll, steinn)

Masculine Nouns Without -ur

Level 2

bíll (car), stóll (chair) and steinn (stone) are masculine nouns without -ur. Their nominative ending is the second l or n.

How It Works

The pattern
Forms in this order: bíll (car) · stóll (chair) · steinn (stone).

  • Nominative: bíll · stóll · steinn
  • Accusative: bíl · stól · stein
  • Dative: bíl · stól · steini
  • Genitive: bíls · stóls · steins
  • Plural: bílar, bíla, bílum, bíla · stólar, stóla, stólum, stóla · steinar, steina, steinum, steina

In these nouns, an old -r ending turned into l or n. That is why only the nominative has the double letter. Some add -i in the dative (steini) and some do not (bíl, stól). Learn the dative with the word.

With the article
The article is added to these forms: bíllinn, bílinn, bílnum, bílsins. Notice bílnum: there is no i before the -num of the dative. See The Attached Article in All Cases.

Nouns that also lose a vowel
In himinn (sky), morgunn (morning) and jökull (glacier), the vowel of the second syllable drops when a case ending that starts with a vowel follows:

  • himinn: himin, himni, himins; plural himnar
  • morgunn: morgun, morgni, morguns
  • jökull: jökul, jökli, jökuls; plural jöklar

The article is then added to the case form, so the dative is himni → himninum, but the accusative is himin → himininn.

How they sound
In bíll and stóll, ll sounds like "tl". After a long vowel or a diphthong, nn sounds like "tn", as in steinn. See The Sounds LL, NN, RL and RN.

Examples (6)

  1. Við keyptum nýjan bíl í gær.

    We bought a new car yesterday.

    Word by Word: We bought new car in yesterday.

    bíl is the accusative, so the second l is gone.

  2. Bíllinn minn er bilaður.

    My car is broken.

    Word by Word: Car-the my is broken.

    bíll is the subject, so it keeps -ll, and the article -inn follows it.

  3. Hún situr á stól við gluggann.

    She is sitting on a chair by the window.

    Word by Word: She sits on chair by window-the.

    á with a location takes the dative, and stól has no -i.

  4. Barnið kastaði steini í vatnið.

    The child threw a stone into the lake.

    Word by Word: Child-the threw stone into water-the.

    kasta takes the dative, and steini adds -i.

  5. Það sjást engar stjörnur á himninum í kvöld.

    No stars can be seen in the sky tonight.

    Word by Word: It are-seen no stars on sky-the in evening.

    The dative of himinn is himni, without the second i, and the article makes himninum.

  6. Hann kom heim með þrjá stóla.

    He came home with three chairs.

    Word by Word: He came home with three chairs.

    með takes the accusative here because the chairs travel with him, so the plural is stóla.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the double letter outside the nominative.

    Við keyptum nýjan bíll.
    Við keyptum nýjan bíl.

    The second l is the nominative ending. The object form is bíl, just like hest from hestur.

  • Adding an i before the -num of the dative article.

    Ég gleymdi símanum í bílinum.
    Ég gleymdi símanum í bílnum.

    The dative of bíll is bíl, with no -i, so the article is added straight on: bílnum. Compare steini → steininum.

  • Keeping the second vowel of himinn in the dative.

    Það sjást engar stjörnur á himininum.
    Það sjást engar stjörnur á himninum.

    himinn drops its second i before a case ending that starts with a vowel: himni, himnar. The dative with the article is built on himni: himninum.

How It Connects

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

Masculine Nouns Without This Ending: -ur (stóll, steinn)Level 2Masculine Nouns Without -ur

Learn This First

stóll and steinn build on hestur nouns and the ll/nn sounds.

Words in This Pattern

stóllsteinn