Three grammatical genders: masculine (karlkyn), feminine (kvenkyn), neuter (hvorugkyn)
Can identify the three grammatical genders of Icelandic nouns and predict gender from common endings
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Hesturinn er hvítur.
The horse is white.
Bókin er góð.
The book is good.
Húsið er gamalt.
The house is old.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Every Icelandic noun is masculine (karlkyn, kk.), feminine (kvenkyn, kvk.) or neuter (hvorugkyn, hk.). In English, gender shows up in "he", "she" and "it" for people and animals; in Icelandic a table, a book and a car each have one, and it decides the form of every article, adjective and pronoun that goes with them.
| Gender | Examples |
|---|---|
| Masculine | hestur - horse, maður - man, bíll - car, dagur - day |
| Feminine | kona - woman, bók - book, tölva - computer, saga - story |
| Neuter | barn - child, hús - house, land - country, kvöld - evening |
| Ending | Usually | Examples | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ur | masculine | dagur, hestur, Guðmundur | veður (weather) is neuter |
| -i | masculine | penni (pen), tími (time) | veski (wallet) is neuter |
| -ll, -nn | masculine | stóll (chair), steinn (stone) | |
| -a | feminine | kona, saga, tölva, pylsa (hot dog) | auga (eye), hjarta (heart) are neuter |
| -ing, -un | feminine | þýðing (translation), þjálfun (training) | |
| a consonant, one syllable | often neuter | barn, hús, borð (table), kvöld | bók is feminine and stóll masculine: no safe rule |
Meaning will not help: a car (bíll) is masculine and a computer (tölva) feminine for no reason you could reason out. The habit that pays off is to learn each noun with its article or its gender: bíllinn, tölvan, húsið.
An adjective changes with the gender of its noun: góður dagur (a good day, m.), góð saga (a good story, f.), gott kvöld (a good evening, n.). So does the pronoun that replaces it: the car is hann, the computer hún.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesHesturinn er hvítur.
The horse is white.
Hestur is masculine → article -inn, adjective hvítur (m. form). Feminine: hvít. Neuter: hvítt.
Bókin er góð.
The book is good.
Bók is feminine → article -in (bókin), adjective góð (f. form). Masculine: góður. Neuter: gott.
Húsið er gamalt.
The house is old.
Hús is neuter → article -ið (húsið), adjective gamalt (n. form). Masculine: gamall. Feminine: gömul.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises