The Attached Article in All Cases

Level 2

In Icelandic, "the" is added to the end of the noun. It changes with the case, just like the noun does: hesturinn (the horse), hestinn, hestinum, hestsins.

How It Works

The article on its own
Forms in this order: Masculine · Feminine · Neuter.

  • Nominative: -inn · -in · -ið
  • Accusative: -inn · -ina · -ið
  • Dative: -num · -inni · -nu
  • Genitive: -ins · -innar · -ins
  • Plural: -nir, -na, -num, -nna · -nar, -nar, -num, -nna · -in, -in, -num, -nna

Noun plus article
Forms in this order: hestur (m) · kona (f) · hús (n).

  • Nominative: hesturinn · konan · húsið
  • Accusative: hestinn · konuna · húsið
  • Dative: hestinum · konunni · húsinu
  • Genitive: hestsins · konunnar · hússins
  • Nom. plural: hestarnir · konurnar · húsin
  • Acc. plural: hestana · konurnar · húsin
  • Dat. plural: hestunum · konunum · húsunum
  • Gen. plural: hestanna · kvennanna · húsanna

Three rules that do most of the work

  • The case ending comes first, then the article: hests + ins → hestsins, borgar + innar → borgarinnar.
  • The i of the article drops after an unstressed vowel: kona + in → konan, tíma + inn → tímann, konu + inni → konunni.
  • In the dative plural, -um loses its m before -num: hestum → hestunum, börnum → börnunum.

If a noun has no dative -i, the article joins it directly: bíl → bílnum. The basics of the article are in The Article at the End of the Noun.

Examples (6)

  1. Hesturinn er úti í haga.

    The horse is out in the pasture.

    Word by Word: Horse-the is out in pasture.

    hesturinn is the subject, so the nominative article -inn is used.

  2. Hún gaf hestinum brauð.

    She gave the horse some bread.

    Word by Word: She gave horse-the bread.

    The horse receives something, so it is in the dative: hesti + num.

  3. Ég talaði við konuna í afgreiðslunni.

    I talked to the woman at the counter.

    Word by Word: I talked with woman-the in counter-the.

    við takes the accusative: konu + na. afgreiðslunni is a dative with the article.

  4. Lyklarnir eru á borðinu.

    The keys are on the table.

    Word by Word: Keys-the are on table-the.

    lyklarnir is a nominative plural. á with a location takes the dative: borði + nu.

  5. Eigandi hússins býr í Noregi.

    The owner of the house lives in Norway.

    Word by Word: Owner house-the's lives in Norway.

    hússins is the genitive: húss + ins.

  6. Við gáfum hestunum hey.

    We gave the horses hay.

    Word by Word: We gave horses-the hay.

    The dative plural hestum loses its m before the article: hestunum.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the nominative form after a preposition.

    Ég talaði við konan.
    Ég talaði við konuna.

    The article changes with the case. við takes the accusative here, so kona becomes konu and the article becomes -na.

  • Using the accusative for a location.

    Lyklarnir eru á borðið.
    Lyklarnir eru á borðinu.

    á and í take the dative when they tell where something is. The dative of borðið is borðinu.

  • Keeping the m of -um before the article.

    Við gáfum hestumnum hey.
    Við gáfum hestunum hey.

    In the dative plural, -um + -num always becomes -unum: hestunum, konunum, húsunum.

How It Connects

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The Attached Article in All CasesLevel 2

Learn This First

The article in all cases builds on the attached article and the four cases.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-inn