{"id":445,"date":"2013-03-12T13:35:59","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T13:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islenzka.net\/?p=445"},"modified":"2013-04-04T01:34:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T01:34:54","slug":"but-i-dont-feel-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/but-i-dont-feel-old\/","title":{"rendered":"But I Don’t Feel Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, today is my birthday…what shall we talk about? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Til hamingju me\u00f0 afm\u00e6li\u00f0!<\/strong> – Happy Birthday! (Recall that the consonant combination -fm-<\/strong> is often pronounced like -mm-<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

A birthday is an excellent opportunity to discuss how to express your age in Icelandic:<\/p>\n

Hva\u00f0 ert \u00feu gamall\/g\u00f6mul?<\/strong> – How old are you?<\/p>\n

Just for reference, let’s review the numbers 1-100:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Numbers 1 – 100<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/th>\neinn<\/td>\n11<\/th>\nellefu<\/td>\n30<\/th>\n\u00ferj\u00e1t\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/th>\ntveir<\/td>\n12<\/th>\nt\u00f3lf<\/td>\n40<\/th>\nfj\u00f6rut\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/th>\n\u00fer\u00edr<\/td>\n13<\/th>\n\u00ferett\u00e1n<\/td>\n50<\/th>\nfimmt\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/th>\nfj\u00f3rir<\/td>\n14<\/th>\nfj\u00f3rt\u00e1n<\/td>\n60<\/th>\nsext\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/th>\nfimm<\/td>\n15<\/th>\nfimmt\u00e1n<\/td>\n70<\/th>\nsj\u00f6t\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/th>\nsex<\/td>\n16<\/th>\nsext\u00e1n<\/td>\n80<\/th>\n\u00e1ttat\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/th>\nsj\u00f6<\/td>\n17<\/th>\nsautj\u00e1n<\/td>\n90<\/th>\nn\u00edut\u00edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/th>\n\u00e1tta<\/td>\n18<\/th>\n\u00e1tj\u00e1n<\/td>\n100<\/th>\nhundra\u00f0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/th>\nn\u00edu<\/td>\n19<\/th>\nn\u00edtj\u00e1n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/th>\nt\u00edu<\/td>\n20<\/th>\ntuttugu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

This is also a great time to learn about the magic of the numbers 1 through 4, and how they decline, unlike other numbers. We’ll only look at the singular forms of einn<\/strong> (yes, there are actually plural forms of “one” :)):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
einn – one<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\neinn<\/td>\nein<\/td>\neitt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\neinn<\/td>\neina<\/td>\neitt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\neinum<\/td>\neinni<\/td>\neinu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\neins<\/td>\neinnar<\/td>\neins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
tveir – two<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\ntveir<\/td>\ntv\u00e6r<\/td>\ntv\u00f6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\ntvo<\/td>\ntv\u00e6r<\/td>\ntv\u00f6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\ntveimur<\/td>\ntveimur<\/td>\ntveimur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\ntveggja<\/td>\ntveggja<\/td>\ntveggja<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00fer\u00edr – three<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\n\u00fer\u00edr<\/td>\n\u00ferj\u00e1r<\/td>\n\u00ferj\u00fa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\n\u00ferj\u00e1<\/td>\n\u00ferj\u00e1r<\/td>\n\u00ferj\u00fa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\n\u00feremur<\/td>\n\u00feremur<\/td>\n\u00feremur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\n\u00feriggja<\/td>\n\u00feriggja<\/td>\n\u00feriggja<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
fj\u00f3rir – four<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/th>\nmasculine<\/th>\nfeminine<\/th>\nneuter<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
nom<\/th>\n fj\u00f3rir<\/td>\nfj\u00f3rar<\/td>\nfj\u00f6gur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
acc<\/th>\nfj\u00f3ra<\/td>\nfj\u00f3rar<\/td>\nfj\u00f6gur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dat<\/th>\nfj\u00f3rum<\/td>\nfj\u00f3rum<\/td>\nfj\u00f3rum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gen<\/th>\nfj\u00f6gurra<\/td>\nfj\u00f6gurra<\/td>\nfj\u00f6gurra<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

For now we’re only interested in the genitive forms of the numbers, since they are used in expressing age. So if I were to say:<\/p>\n

\u00c9g er 43 \u00e1ra gamall<\/strong> – I am 43 years old. <\/p>\n

It would be written out as:
\n\u00c9g er fj\u00f6rut\u00edu og \u00feriggja \u00e1ra gamall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For ages that end in 1, you would use the genitive singular form of \u00e1r<\/strong> – \u00e1rs<\/strong>:
\nH\u00fan er tuttugu og eins \u00e1rs<\/strong> – She is twenty one.<\/p>\n

Otherwise \u00e1ra<\/strong> is called for:
\nHann er fimmt\u00edu og tveggja \u00e1ra.<\/strong> – He is fifty two.
\nH\u00fan er \u00ferj\u00e1t\u00edu og fj\u00f6gurra \u00e1ra.<\/strong> – She is thirty four.<\/p>\n

For all other numbers, you simply use their only form:
\nHann er sext\u00edu og sex \u00e1ra.<\/strong> – He is sixty six.
\nStr\u00e1kurinn er n\u00edu \u00e1ra.<\/strong> – The boy is nine.
\nStelpan er fimmt\u00e1n \u00e1ra.<\/strong> – The girl is fifteen.<\/p>\n

This is a really easy way to get started with learning numbers; just keep making up sentences with different ages, and throw in the genitive forms of 1-4 at random. You’ll be rattling them off in no time \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, today is my birthday…what shall we talk about? \ud83d\ude42 Til hamingju me\u00f0 afm\u00e6li\u00f0! – Happy Birthday! (Recall that the…<\/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],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445"}],"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=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1607,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/1607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}