þessi and sá declined in full, plus hinn; why þessi and sá drop the suffixed article and hinn demands it.
I can point at things and pick people out of a group (þessi peysa, sá sem kemur fyrstur).
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Þessi peysa er úr íslenskri ull.
This sweater is made of Icelandic wool.
Ég tek þennan strætó, ekki hinn.
I am taking this bus, not the other one.
Þetta er besti ísinn í bænum.
This is the best ice cream in town.
Sá sem kemur fyrstur velur tónlistina í bílnum.
Whoever arrives first picks the music in the car.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Icelandic points with two main words - þessi (this, near) and sá (that, further off or already mentioned) - plus hinn (the other one).
| Fall | Karlkyn | Kvenkyn | Hvorugkyn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nefnifall | þessi | þessi | þetta |
| Þolfall | þennan | þessa | þetta |
| Þágufall | þessum | þessari | þessu |
| Eignarfall | þessa | þessarar | þessa |
Plural: þessir / þessar / þessi, accusative þessa / þessar / þessi, dative þessum throughout, genitive þessara throughout.
| Fall | Karlkyn | Kvenkyn | Hvorugkyn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nefnifall | sá | sú | það |
| Þolfall | þann | þá | það |
| Þágufall | þeim | þeirri | því |
| Eignarfall | þess | þeirrar | þess |
Plural: þeir / þær / þau, accusative þá / þær / þau, dative þeim throughout, genitive þeirra throughout - the same forms as the third-person pronouns.
hinn, hin, hitt means the other one: Ég tek þennan strætó, ekki hinn. With a noun it takes the definite form - hinn strætóinn - and in the plural hinir, hinar, hin simply means the others. That is not an arbitrary exception: hinn is the old free-standing article that later fused onto the noun as -inn, which is why it behaves the opposite way - and why it still survives before an adjective in formal writing: hið nýja Ísland.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesAdding the suffixed article after þessi or sá: *þessi bókin instead of þessi bók - while hinn needs it (hinn maðurinn). - Using þessa where the masculine accusative þennan is required. - Saying *Þessi er góð bók when introducing something; the presentational form is Þetta er góð bók. - Reaching for sá when þessi is what you mean: sá points at something already known or further off, and it is at its most frequent before sem (sá sem...) and in set phrases such as á þeim tíma and þess vegna.
Þessi peysa er úr íslenskri ull.
This sweater is made of Icelandic wool.
þessi + peysa with no article on the noun.
Ég tek þennan strætó, ekki hinn.
I am taking this bus, not the other one.
Masculine accusative þennan after taka, and hinn for the other one.
Þetta er besti ísinn í bænum.
This is the best ice cream in town.
Presentational þetta stays neuter although ís is masculine. Icelanders queue for ice cream in any weather, which is why the sentence is so ordinary.
Sá sem kemur fyrstur velur tónlistina í bílnum.
Whoever arrives first picks the music in the car.
sá sem = the one who, the standard pairing.
Manstu eftir þessum degi í fyrra?
Do you remember that day last year?
muna eftir takes the dative, so þessum degi. English says that day here, but a day you are both holding in mind counts as near, so Icelandic uses þessi.
The check for this topic is still being prepared
Ready-made hints are free
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
The national inflection database; the inflection tables on this page are checked cell by cell against its entries.
The standard reference grammar of Icelandic syntax; cited here for the noun phrase and the distribution of the suffixed article after þessi, sá and hinn.