{"id":1047,"date":"2013-04-08T13:32:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T13:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islenzka.net\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2013-04-08T13:32:44","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T13:32:44","slug":"this-that-and-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/this-that-and-the-other\/","title":{"rendered":"This, That And The Other"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hand-pointing\"<\/p>\n

When you need to answer the question which one?<\/em>, your best friend is the demonstrative pronoun. In Icelandic, this means having a discussion involving the words \u00feessi<\/strong>, s\u00e1<\/strong> and hinn<\/strong>. Since we are talking about the usual 3 genders, 4 cases, singular and plural, it means a possible 24 forms of each word. Nobody said it was easy \ud83d\ude42 Fortunately several of the forms are identical, so you do get a bit of a break. So here’s a very brief introduction to demonstrative pronouns in Icelandic:<\/p>\n

When first starting out in Icelandic, you learn simple sentences like:<\/p>\n

Hva\u00f0 kostar \u00feessi b\u00f3k?<\/strong>
\nHow much does this book cost?
\n\u00deetta h\u00fas er st\u00f3rt.<\/strong>
\nThat house is big.<\/p>\n

This is the most basic use of a demonstrative pronoun. \u00deessi<\/strong> is typically used for referring to something nearby, something you could point at for instance. The fun starts when we need to use the other 3 cases besides the nominative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00feessi – this<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nsingular<\/th>\nplural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\n\u00feessi<\/td>\n\u00feessi<\/td>\n\u00feetta<\/td>\n\u00feessir<\/td>\n\u00feessar<\/td>\n\u00feessi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\n\u00feennan<\/td>\n\u00feessa<\/td>\n\u00feetta<\/td>\n\u00feessa<\/td>\n\u00feessar<\/td>\n\u00feessi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\n\u00feessum<\/td>\n\u00feessari<\/td>\n\u00feessu<\/td>\n\u00feessum<\/td>\n\u00feessum<\/td>\n\u00feessum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\n\u00feessa<\/td>\n\u00feessarar<\/td>\n\u00feessa<\/td>\n\u00feessara<\/td>\n\u00feessara<\/td>\n\u00feessara<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\u00c9g \u00e6tla a\u00f0 kaupa \u00feennan b\u00edl \/ \u00feessa b\u00edla.<\/strong>
\nI’d like to buy this car \/ these cars.
\nM\u00e1 \u00e9g sko\u00f0a \u00feessa b\u00f3k \/ \u00feessar b\u00e6kur?<\/strong>
\nCan take a look at this book \/ these books?
\nEr mj\u00f6g skemmtileg saga \u00ed \u00feessari b\u00f3k.<\/strong>
\nThere is a very entertaining story in this book.
\nEru mj\u00f6g skemmtilegar s\u00f6gur \u00ed \u00feessum b\u00f3kum.<\/strong>
\nThere are very entertaining stories in these books.
\n\u00deau gleyma aldrei \u00feessum degi.<\/strong>
\nThey will never forget this day.
\nEigandi \u00feessa h\u00fass er ekki heima.<\/strong>
\nThe owner of this house isn’t home.
\nRith\u00f6fundurinn \u00feessarar b\u00f3kar \/ \u00feessara b\u00f3ka er mj\u00f6g fr\u00e6gur.<\/strong>
\nThe author of this book \/ these books is very famous.<\/p>\n

When referring back to something already mentioned, or in expression such as “that one, who\/which”, s\u00e1<\/strong> is typically used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
s\u00e1 – that (one)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nsingular<\/th>\nplural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\ns\u00e1<\/td>\ns\u00fa<\/td>\n\u00fea\u00f0<\/td>\n\u00feeir<\/td>\n\u00fe\u00e6r<\/td>\n\u00feau<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\n\u00feann<\/td>\n\u00fe\u00e1<\/td>\n\u00fea\u00f0<\/td>\n\u00fe\u00e1<\/td>\n\u00fe\u00e6r<\/td>\n\u00feau<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\n\u00feeim<\/td>\n\u00feeirri<\/td>\n\u00fev\u00ed<\/td>\n\u00feeim<\/td>\n\u00feeim<\/td>\n\u00feeim<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\n\u00feess<\/td>\n\u00feeirrar<\/td>\n\u00feess<\/td>\n\u00feeirra<\/td>\n\u00feeirra<\/td>\n\u00feeirra<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

S\u00e1 ma\u00f0ur, sem f\u00f3r til \u00cdslands.<\/strong>
\nThat man who went to Iceland.
\nS\u00fa kona, sem \u00fe\u00fa s\u00e1st \u00ed g\u00e6r.<\/strong>
\nThe woman you saw yesterday.
\nVi\u00f0 t\u00f6lum um \u00fe\u00e1 b\u00f3k sem hlaut ver\u00f0laun.<\/strong>
\nWe’re talking about that book that won an award.<\/p>\n

s\u00e1, sem…<\/strong> is a very common construct.<\/p>\n

You often see \u00feann<\/strong> used when referring to a date:
\nHann l\u00e9st \u00feann 25 mars, 1912.<\/strong> – He died March 25, 1912.<\/p>\n

Other than being used as the free definite article, hinn<\/strong> is often seen with \u00feessi<\/strong> when contrasting one thing with another:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
hinn – that, the other<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nsingular<\/th>\nplural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\nhinn<\/td>\nhinn<\/td>\nhitt<\/td>\nhinir<\/td>\nhinar<\/td>\nhin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\nhinn<\/td>\nhina<\/td>\nhitt<\/td>\nhina<\/td>\nhinar<\/td>\nhin<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\nhinum<\/td>\nhinni<\/td>\nhinu<\/td>\nhinum<\/td>\nhinum<\/td>\nhinum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\nhins<\/td>\nhinar<\/td>\nhins<\/td>\nhinna<\/td>\nhinna<\/td>\nhinna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\u00deessi ma\u00f0ur er h\u00e1vaxinn, en hinn er l\u00e1vaxinn.<\/strong>
\nThis man is tall, and this one is short.
\nHitt og \u00feetta.<\/strong>
\nThis and that.
\nHinn daginn.<\/strong>
\nThe day after tomorrow.
\nEin af \u00feremur b\u00f3kum er \u00e1 skr\u00edfbor\u00f0inu, hinar eru \u00e1 b\u00f3kahilluni.<\/strong>
\nOne of three books is on the desk, the others are on the bookshelf.<\/p>\n

So you should now at least be able to point out exactly which<\/em> erupting volcano you want to run away from… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you need to answer the question which one?, your best friend is the demonstrative pronoun. In Icelandic, this means…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1728,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1047\/revisions\/1728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}