Colloquial Icelandic

342 Pages·2021·3.64 MB·English

Colloquial Icelandic

The Colloquial Series

Series adviser: Gary King

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Colloquial Icelandic

The Complete Course for Beginners

Daisy L.Neijmann

London and New York

First published 2001 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York,
NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.”

© 2001 Daisy L.Neijmann

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Neijmann, Daisy L., 1963– Colloquial
Icelandic: the complete course for beginners/ Daisy L.Neijmann. p. cm.—(Colloquials) Includes
index. 1. Icelandic language-Textbooks for foreign speakers-English. 2. Icelandic Language-
Spoken Icelandic. I. Title. II. Colloquial series. PD2413 .N45 2001 439'.6983421–dc21 00–
047062

ISBN 0-203-99545-7 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-415-20706-1 (Print Edition) (book)
ISBN 0-415-20707-X (Print Edition) (cassettes)
ISBN 0-415-20708-8 (Print Edition) (book and cassettes course)

Contents

Acknowledgements
vii

Abbreviations
viii

Introduction

1

The sounds and letters of Icelandic

4

1 Velkomin til Íslands! Welcome to Iceland!
11

2 Hvaðan ert þú? Where are you from?
26

3 Hvert förum við? Where are we going?
41

4 Ég ætla að fá…Hvað verður þetta mikið? I would like to get…How much
will that be?
59

5 Föt Clothing
72

6 Á ferð og flugi On the move
87

7 Daglegt líf Daily life
104

8 Verði þér að góðu! Enjoy your meal!
117

9 Fjölskyldan The family
134

10 Stefnumót Appointments
145

11 Gisting Accommodation
156

12 Tómstundir Spare time
168

13 Ísland Iceland
182

14 Saga og þjóð Story, history and people
195

15 Höfuð, herðar, hné og tær Head and shoulders, knees and toes
206

16 Gangi þér vel! Good luck!
218

Grammar summary
231

Glossary of grammatical terms
239

Key to exercises
242

Glosses of reading passages
257

Icelandic-English glossary
268

English-lcelandic glossary
310

Index
329

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Morgunblaðið, Talnakönnun (formerly Nesútgáfan), DV and Tímarit
Reykjavík for permission to use various extracts and articles, to Ferðaskrifstofan Nonni to
use their advertisement, to Jón Gíslason and Sigríður þorvaldsdóttir to use excerpts from
their book Landsteinar, to Gerður Kristný and Elísabet Þorgeirsdóttir to use excerpts
from their articles, to Hótel Borg for permission to print their menu. Warmest thanks are
extended to my generous and patient Icelandic friends Árni þór Eymundsson, Katrín
Eymundsdóttir and Antonía Sveinsdóttir, who were kind enough to read and correct the
manuscript during its various stages, fielded my many questions and contributed valuable
insights. Thanks also go to the friendly and helpful staff at Routledge, especially to Gary
King whose encouragement and assistance during the early writing stages were
important. Final thanks to Wil Neijmann, who passed on to me his love of languages and
the joy of language learning, and, as always, to Mark, for his patience and love.
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyright material. If
any proper acknowledgement has not been made, or permission not received, we would
invite copyright holders to inform us of the oversight.

Abbreviations

acc.
accusative

adj.
adjective

adv.
adverb

comp.
comparative

conj.
conjunction

dat.
dative

dem.
demonstrative

excl.
exclamation

f./fem.
feminine

gen.
genitive

imp.
imperative

impers.
impersonal

indecl.
indeclinable

inf.
infinitive

inter.
interrogative

interj.
interjection

intrans.
intransitive

lit.
literally

m./masc.
masculine

n./neut.
neuter

nom.
nominative

num.
numeral

pl.
plural

pp.
past participle

pref.
prefix

prep.
preposition(al)

pron.
pronoun

refl.
reflexive

sg./sing.
singular

subj.
subjunctive/subject

superl.
superlative

trans.
transitive

v./vb.
verb

Introduction

Icelandic is a fascinating language. Dating back to Viking times, with less than 300,000
speakers and a history that has kept it relatively free from major changes, it has captured
the interest of many enthusiasts over the course of time.
People are attracted to Icelandic for many different reasons. For some, it is the
romantic lure of learning the language of the Vikings. Others want to be able to
appreciate the Icelandic sagas or Eddic poems in the original. You may be intrigued by
the linguistic antiquity of Icelandic. Perhaps Icelandic was the language of your
ancestors. Or maybe you are simply planning a trip to Iceland, and you wish to
communicate with Icelanders in their own language. Whatever it is that motivated you to
pick up this book, you are interested in learning Icelandic, or in keeping up and
improving your Icelandic. This course may be just what you need.

Iceland

Iceland is an island in the North Atlantic, 103,000 km2 in size, hugging the Arctic Circle.
Geologically, Iceland is young, and in many ways still ‘in the making’: volcanic and
geothermal activity determine much of Iceland’s landscape, as do glaciers, mountains,
lava deserts, green valleys, and clear, rich waters. The warm Gulf Stream moderates the
climate, with a mean annual temperature in Reykjavík of 5°C.
The island was settled in the ninth century, largely by Norse people from western
Norway and the British Isles and their Celtic companions. The settler community
established its own national assembly, resembling a parliament and called the Alþingi,
and officially adopted Christianity in the year 1000. In 1262–4 Iceland became subject to
the Norwegian crown and in 1380 it came under Danish rule. Iceland eventually regained
its independence in stages: it obtained home rule in 1918, and became an independent
republic in 1944.
Today, Iceland has approximately 270,000 inhabitants, about half of whom live in the
capital Reykjavík and its surroundings. The Icelandic economy largely depends on the

fishing industry, which makes up
of the GNP. Since only 1 per cent of the land is
arable, dairy and sheep farming are more common than arable farming, and woollens and
mountain lamb are among Iceland’s exports. Iceland is rich in natural energy: geothermal
heat is used to heat houses and greenhouses, and electricity is generated from water
power.

Icelandic

Icelandic is part of the North Germanic language group, and developed from the Viking
Age West Norse speech brought by the settlers. Icelandic first appears as a separate
language in the twelfth century, when the anonymous author of The First Grammatical
Treatise introduced a special alphabet to suit the needs of Icelandic. Writing was
introduced by the Church, along with influences from Latin, English and French.
The remarkable body of literature recorded in Iceland during the following centuries,
and the translation of the Bible into Icelandic after the Reformation in the sixteenth
century, were instrumental for the continuity of Icelandic under foreign domination,
when the influence of Danish became pervasive.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Icelandic language and literature
came to play a crucial role in the nationalist struggle for independence. The nationalists
developed language policies to purify Icelandic from foreign influences. Today, many of
these policies are still in place: a special language board creates words for new
phenomena from the resources of the Icelandic language itself. Nevertheless, Icelandic
adopts its share of loan words every year, some of which live a long and happy life
alongside their Icelandic neologist equivalents. Where loan words win out, they are
usually adapted to Icelandic grammar and spelling, and will often take on a new meaning
in the Icelandic context. Icelanders have been remarkably successful in making their
ancient language fully compatible with today’s global, computerized world: a knowledge
of modern Icelandic will allow relatively easy access to a fourteenth-century Icelandic
saga as well as a discussion of the latest concepts in marketing or Internet
communication.

Colloquial Icelandic

This course is designed to guide the learner, who may not have any previous language-
learning experience, from complete beginner to basic communicative competence,
enough to converse in a range of common situations. Each of the sixteen lessons contains
a systematic presentation of several grammatical issues. The grammar and pronunciation
can be learned practically through the accompanying exercises and situational dialogues.
The aim is to help the learner achieve a command of contemporary colloquial vocabulary
and the basic structures through exposure to dialogues and exercises based on everyday,
realistic experiences. By the end of the course, the learner can expect to be able to:

• converse socially, exchange information and relate daily experiences
• obtain information pertaining to travel and tourism
• shop and make business arrangements.

Colloquial icelandic: the complete course for beginners 2

Learning Icelandic

Learning a language is an exciting experience. It is a lot like being a child again: you
begin mute, you learn by exposure and repetition, and in the process you are discovering
a new world. The main requirements are interest and determination. Enjoying your study
will make your progress easier and more fun, and will more than make up for the
difficulties you may encounter.
Regular study habits are highly recommended: you’ll find that a page a day will pay
off more than a chapter once a week. Remember that exposure alone is beneficial, too—
you don’t always need to be ‘studying’: listening to your tape in your car or walkman,
practising words and phrases while walking or doing dishes will all help.
This is particularly true of Icelandic, which is an inflected language (i.e. words change
form to express grammatical information) and has a vocabulary largely new even to
speakers of another Germanic language. At first, this may seem rather daunting and your
initial progress may appear slow. Don’t worry: with time, regular practice and an open
mind, even these complex aspects of Icelandic will gradually fall into place. Enjoy!

Introduction 3

The sounds and letters of Icelandic

Icelandic pronunciation

Generally speaking, there is a much more direct correspondence between spelling and
sound in Icelandic than in English. On the other hand, some Icelandic sounds are either
foreign to English speakers, or subtly but importantly different from English or other
Icelandic sounds. Students are advised to pay close attention from the start and continue
to practise Icelandic pronunciation throughout the course; it is important to develop an
ear for the subtleties and intricacies of Icelandic, as well as the ability to integrate them
into your own pronunciation. Play with the sounds until they feel good in your mouth.
Many Icelanders are proud of their language and will berate Icelander and foreigner alike
for treating it with disrespect.
The following is an introduction to Icelandic pronunciation which is meant as a
practical guide to which students can refer as they progress through the course. It is by no
means exhaustive, but it will allow the learner to grasp the basics and communicate in a
comprehensible and acceptable manner. The recordings will help you with the sounds,
and the phonetic symbols (based on the International Phonetic Alphabet), enclosed in
square brackets, allow you to find out how to produce them exactly.1 English
approximations are also provided where possible, but they are poor substitutes for the
actual Icelandic sounds.

1 Guides to the IPA are easily available. Since the phonetic alphabet is based on sound production
rather than spelling, it is particularly helpful as a guide to sounds you find difficult to reproduce.

Vowels

We begin with a list of Icelandic vowels and their sounds in Icelandic, divided into
monophthongs (one sound) and diphthongs (combinations of two sounds, where one
‘slides’ towards another):
IPA Symbol LetterEnglish approximation
Icelandic examples

Monophthongs
[a]
a
father, ta
taska, kaka
[ε]
e
bed
drekka
[jε]
é
yes
ég
[I]
i
win
litur
[i]
í
keep
líta
[I]
y
win
þykja
[i]
ý
keep
mýs

o
toffee
lofa

[ø]
u
(say ‘i’ as in ‘win’, but with rounded lips) hundur, upp
[u]
ú
lose
þú
[œ]
ö
girl
hönd, ör
Diphthongs
[au]
á
now
blár
[ou]
ó
note2
rós
[ai]
æ
kind
bær

Note that the accented vowels in Icelandic are individual sounds, completely different in
quality from their unaccented counterparts. Compare the following pairs:

ala—ál, te—té, friður—friður, fyrst—fýst, loga—lóa, utan—út

The following are special vowel combinations which always correspond to the following
sounds:

2 Icelandic ó is a diphthong, which means that pronunciation starts with the [o] sound, but then
moves (‘slides’) towards an [u] (as in lose). The sound roughly resembles standard southern
English pronunciation of ‘o’ but is more open and rounded.

[œy] au
(start with an ö and then gradually lift your tongue) auga, haust, þau
[εi] ei/ey case
skeið

Consonants

In English as well as Icelandic, consonants can be voiced or unvoiced. If you pronounce
English ‘d’ and ‘t’, ‘v’ and ‘f’, ‘z’ and ‘s’ while holding your hand against your throat,
you will notice the vibration when you pronounce the voiced consonant in each pair. The
voiced or unvoiced quality of consonants is subject to change: consonants may become
voiced or devoiced when in a voiced or unvoiced environment. This is a significant
aspect of Icelandic pronunciation. For instance, an unvoiced consonant surrounded by
vowels will usually become voiced in Icelandic, while the fully unvoiced h causes any
following consonant to become devoiced. Devoicing sometimes causes difficulties for
students. It helps if you imagine an h before the consonant in question, or try blowing a
lot of air when your pronounce the sound. It is important to practise this, as devoicing can
mean the difference between two separate words:

vanda—va[h]nta, lambið—la[h]mpi, vergur—ve[h]rkur

You will see in the following list of Icelandic consonants how almost every voiced sound
has a devoiced counterpart. Check the examples and notice how the devoiced version
occurs before unvoiced consonant(s) or after h. There are three consonants that are
always voiced in English but never voiced in Icelandic: b, d, g. The only difference in

The sounds and letters of icelandic 5