house

Earlier this week RÚV reported on the sale of the Gamla bíó building on Ingólfsstræti, which was one of the first movie theaters in Iceland, and later became the home of the Icelandic opera. According to the Wikipedia page, the first movie shown at Gamla bíó was the 1925 silent film Ben Hur, in 1927 🙂 There are a lot of “house” references, among other things, that make for an interesting read. The Icelandic word hús (house, home) is a neuter noun with a regular declension:

hús (n) – house, building
singular plural
nom hús hús
acc hús hús
dat húsi húsum
gen húss húsa

Another word related to the idea of house is the adverb heima – at home.

The first sentence:

“Gamla bíó við Ingólfsstræti, sem hýsti lengst af Íslensku óperuna, hefur verið selt til fyrirtækisins Fjelagið hf en það er meðal annars í eigu Steindórs Sigurgeirssonar, eiganda Storms Seafood sem búsettur er í Hong Kong.”

“Gamla bio on Ingolfsstraeti, which long housed the Icelandic Opera, has been sold to the firm Fjelagid hf, which among other things is in the posession of Steindor Sigurgeirsson, owner of Storms Seafood, who resides in Hong Kong.”

Often you see the adjective búsettur í/á + dative used to mean “resident of/resides in”.

The verb used in the text for ‘to house’ is:

að hýsa – to house, accommodate
present past
ég hýsi hýsti
þú hýsir hýstir
það hýsir hýsti
við hýsum hýstum
þið hýsið hýstuð
þau hýsa hýstu

Þetta hús hýsir bókasafn skólans. – That building houses the school library.

From the second paragraph:

“Hann segir kaupin hafa gengið í gegn fyrir nokkrum dögum en staðið hefur til að selja húsið í nokkurn tíma.”

“He says the sales went through a few days ago, but that the plan had been to sell the building for some time.”

I thought ganga í gegn was an interesting phrase for some reason 🙂

It sounds like most of the unique features of the building will be preserved:

“Stefán bendir á að húsið sé friðað að framan, anddyrið einnig, miðasala og það sem snýr að áhorfendum. Vilji menn gera breytingar á húsinu þurfi að leita til húsafriðunarnefndar.”

“Stefan pointed out that the exterior of the building would be preserved, as well as the entrance doors, box office and anything that is visible to the outside. If someone wants to make changes to the building they will have to turn to the building preservation committee.”

*I’m not completely sure about the translation of “og það sem snýr að áhorfendum“.

“Stefán segir að kaupverðið sé ekki gefið upp.”

It might look like “give up”, but I think it just means that the purchase price wasn’t disclosed, closer to the English “given out”. Give up is gefast upp 🙂

rekst/ur m 			operation, management
svip/aður adj (f -uð)		rather similar
snið n (-s,-)			form, shape

heimild f (-ar,-ir)		source
leig/ja v (acc) 		rent, hire, lease
við·burð/ur m (-ar,-ir)		event
síðar meir			later on

frið/a v (acc) (-aði)		preserve, protect
and·dyri n (-s,-)		entrance, vestibule
miða/sala f (-sölu,-sölur)	box (ticket) office
á·horf/andi m (-anda,-endur)	spectator, onlooker
nefnd f (-ar,-ir)		committee, board, commission

kaup·verð n (-s)		purchase price