Stress on the First Syllable

Level 1

Stress the first syllable of every Icelandic word: Ísland, Reykjavík, bókasafn, kaffihús.

How It Works

In this explanation, bold marks the stressed syllable.

  • Short and long words. tala (speak), íslenska (Icelandic), ótrúlegur (unbelievable), háskóli (university).
  • Compounds. Icelandic builds many long words from shorter ones. The first part gets the main stress, and each later part gets a lighter stress on its own first syllable: kaffi-hús (café), bóka-safn (library), sjón-varp (television). See compound nouns.
  • Loanwords and place names. Borrowed words follow the rule too: banani (banana), appelsína (orange), Ítalía (Italy), Ameríka. This is different from English, where banana and America are stressed later.
  • The accent mark is not stress. In Reykjavík and appelsína, the accented vowel does not carry the main stress. The accent only tells you which vowel sound to use. See á é í ó ú ý.

Stress also matters for vowel length. Only a stressed syllable, including the lighter stress in a compound, can have a long vowel. Every unstressed vowel is short. See long and short vowels.

In quick speech, small unstressed words lean on the word before them, which is where joined forms such as ertu (are you) come from. See ertu/viltu/talarðu.

Examples (5)

  1. Ég á heima á Íslandi.

    I live in Iceland.

    Word by Word: I have home on Iceland.

    Íslandi is stressed on Ís.

  2. Bókasafnið er lokað í dag.

    The library is closed today.

    Word by Word: The-library is closed today.

    Main stress on bó, with a lighter stress on safn.

  3. Við fórum á kaffihús í Reykjavík.

    We went to a café in Reykjavík.

    Word by Word: We went to café in Reykjavík.

    kaffihús is stressed on kaf and Reykjavík on Reyk. The accented vowels in hús and vík are not the main stress.

  4. Hann talar íslensku.

    He speaks Icelandic.

    Word by Word: He speaks Icelandic.

    íslensku is stressed on ís.

  5. Hún keypti banana og appelsínur.

    She bought bananas and oranges.

    Word by Word: She bought bananas and oranges.

    Loanwords follow the rule: banana is stressed on ba, appelsínur on ap.

Common Mistakes

  • Stressing the syllable with the accent mark. (Capital letters show the stressed syllable.)

    reykjaVÍK
    REYKjavík

    The accent on í only changes the vowel sound. The stress stays on the first syllable.

  • Keeping English stress in loanwords. (Capital letters show the stressed syllable.)

    baNAni
    BAnani

    Borrowed words are stressed on the first syllable, just like Icelandic words.

  • Stressing the last part of a compound. (Capital letters show the stressed syllable.)

    kaffiHÚS
    KAFfihús

    The first part of a compound carries the main stress. The later part only gets a lighter stress.

How It Connects

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

Stress on the First SyllableLevel 1

Learn This First

Stress is taught on written words, so it follows the alphabet.