Adjectives: Basic Agreement

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Adjective agreement with nouns in gender, number, and case (strong declension basics)

Can make adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, and case in basic sentences

Examples

Stór hestur er á bænum. — A big horse is on the farm.
Ég hef góða bók. — I have a good book.
Þetta er gott kaffi. — This is good coffee.

AdjectivesA1

Adjectives: Basic Agreement

Adjective agreement with nouns in gender, number, and case (strong declension basics)

Learning Goal

Can make adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, and case in basic sentences

Exam Skills:VISC A1

Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?

Stór hestur er á bænum.

A big horse is on the farm.

Ég hef góða bók.

I have a good book.

Þetta er gott kaffi.

This is good coffee.

Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?

An English adjective stays the same: "a tired man, a tired woman, tired children". An Icelandic adjective agrees with its noun in gender, number and case. Here is fallegur (beautiful) in the strong forms you use with a noun that has no article:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative singular	fallegur hestur	falleg kona	fallegt hús
Accusative singular	fallegan hest	fallega konu	fallegt hús
Nominative plural	fallegir hestar	fallegar konur	falleg hús

Three endings carry most of the load at this stage: -ur for a masculine subject, nothing for a feminine one, -t for neuter. Góður (good) follows the same pattern but its neuter is gott: góður dagur, góð bók, gott kvöld.

Small changes in the stem

Some adjectives whose stem ends in -r, such as stór (big) and dýr (expensive), take no extra -ur: stór hestur (a big horse), not *stórur; neuter stórt hús.
An a in the stem turns into ö in the feminine nominative singular: svangur → svöng (hungry), langur → löng (long). A woman says Ég er svöng.

After the verb "to be" it still agrees

English speakers remember agreement before a noun and forget it after vera. In Icelandic the adjective agrees there too: Hann er þreyttur. Hún er þreytt. Barnið er þreytt. Þau eru þreytt. - He / she / the child / they are tired. Húsið er stórt. - The house is big.

The adjective goes before the noun, as in English: íslenskur hestur, heitt kaffi (hot coffee). With the suffixed article it switches to a separate weak set of endings, as in Bláa lónið (the Blue Lagoon); that is a topic of its own.

Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises

Practice Exercises

Using the masculine form for all genders (*góður kona instead of góð kona). Forgetting that neuter often has -t ending (gott, stórt). 🇬🇧 English speakers: English adjectives don't change at all — 'big dog/big cat/big house'. Must learn all 9+ forms.

Stór hestur er á bænum.

A big horse is on the farm.

Stór-ur matches masculine hestur. If it were bók (f.): stór bók. If barn (n.): stórt barn.

Ég hef góða bók.

I have a good book.

Góða = feminine accusative of góður. Bók in accusative stays bók, but adjective changes: góð → góða.

Þetta er gott kaffi.

This is good coffee.

Gott = neuter form of góður. Kaffi is neuter. Note: góður → gott (not *góðt) — consonant assimilation.

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Frequently asked questions

When do you use Adjectives: Basic Agreement?: An English adjective stays the same: "a tired man, a tired woman, tired children". An Icelandic adjective agrees with its noun in gender , number and case . Here is fallegur (beautiful) in the strong forms you use with a noun that has no article:
How do you form Adjectives: Basic Agreement?: Three endings carry most of the load at this stage: -ur for a masculine subject, nothing for a feminine one, -t for neuter. Góður (good) follows the same pattern but its neuter is gott : góður dagur, góð bók, gott kvöld . English speakers remember agreement before a noun and forget it after vera . In Icelandic the adjective agrees there too: Hann er þreyttur. Hún er þreytt. Barnið er þreytt. Þau eru þreytt. - He / she / the child / they are tired. Húsið er stórt. - The house is big. The adjective goes before the noun, as in English: íslenskur hestur , heitt kaffi (hot coffee).
What are common mistakes with Adjectives: Basic Agreement?: Using the masculine form for all genders (*góður kona instead of góð kona). Forgetting that neuter often has -t ending (gott, stórt). 🇬🇧 English speakers: English adjectives don't change at all — 'big dog/big cat/big house'. Must learn all 9+ forms.

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Nominative singular

fallegur hestur

falleg kona

fallegt hús

Accusative singular

fallegan hest

fallega konu

fallegt hús

Nominative plural

fallegir hestar

fallegar konur

falleg hús

Frequently asked questions

When do you use Adjectives: Basic Agreement?

An English adjective stays the same: "a tired man, a tired woman, tired children". An Icelandic adjective agrees with its noun in gender , number and case . Here is fallegur (beautiful) in the strong forms you use with a noun that has no article:

How do you form Adjectives: Basic Agreement?

Three endings carry most of the load at this stage: -ur for a masculine subject, nothing for a feminine one, -t for neuter. Góður (good) follows the same pattern but its neuter is gott : góður dagur, góð bók, gott kvöld . English speakers remember agreement before a noun and forget it after vera . In Icelandic the adjective agrees there too: Hann er þreyttur. Hún er þreytt. Barnið er þreytt. Þau eru þreytt. - He / she / the child / they are tired. Húsið er stórt. - The house is big. The adjective goes before the noun, as in English: íslenskur hestur , heitt kaffi (hot coffee).

What are common mistakes with Adjectives: Basic Agreement?

Using the masculine form for all genders (*góður kona instead of góð kona). Forgetting that neuter often has -t ending (gott, stórt). 🇬🇧 English speakers: English adjectives don't change at all — 'big dog/big cat/big house'. Must learn all 9+ forms.