Learn Icelandic On the Web - Lesson Two Lesson Three - Þriðji Kafli   It's now time to take a more traditional approach to learning some of the fundamentals of Icelandic grammar. Because Icelandic is a highly-inflected langauge, it is necessary to learn some paradigms, or patterns of inflection that are common to the language. We will begin with nouns. Icelandic nouns are divided into two classifications, strong and weak. Also, Icelandic nouns show the aforementioned three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. Also, four cases are found: nominative (the form used as the subject), accusative (the form of the noun used as the direct object), dative (the form used as the indirect object), and genitive (the form used for the possessive). In this lesson we will be dealing with the strong declension of Icelandic nouns. In the strong declension, the genitive singular always ends in a consonant (-s, -ar). The convention used to cite a noun's declension is thus: NOMINATIVE: hér er NOUN ACCUSATIVE: um NOUN DATIVE: frá NOUN GENITIVE: til NOUN Strong Masculine Nouns hér er hestur1 um hest frá hesti til hests hér eru hestar um hesta frá hestum til hesta hér er hattur um hatt frá hatti til hatts hér eru hattar um hatta frá höttum2 til hatta hér er akur um akur3 frá akri til akurs hér eru akrar um akra frá ökrum2 til akra hér er stóll4 um stól frá stóli til stóls hér eru stólar um stóla frá stólum til stóla   -ur is the ending which marks the masculine nominative singular.   In some forms, the ending -um makes the preceeding a become fronted and rounded into ö.  In this noun, and some like it, the -ur isn't just an ending on the nominative form, it is also a part of the root of the word, so it remains in all declensions.  Here the -ll is a contracted form of an earlier -lr. So also go nouns in -nn Strong Feminine Nouns hér er borg um borg frá borg til borgar hér eru borgir um borgir frá borgum til borga hér er kerling um kerlingu1 frá kerlingu til kerlingar hér eru kerlingar um kerlingar frá kerlingum til kerlinga hér er lifur um lifur frá lifur til lifrar2 hér eru lifrar um lifrar frá lifrum til lifra hér er á3 um á frá á til ár hér eru ár um ár frá ám4 til áa In feminine nous with the ending -ng a u is often the marker of the accusative and dative. The ending -ur is part of the stem, so the -r stays in the conjugation. Here there is effectively no ending, jut the noun á. Here the vowel of the dative plural ending has been ellided for euphony. Strong Neuter Nouns hér er borð um borð frá borði til borðs hér eru borð um borð frá borðum til borða hér er barn um barn frá barni til barns hér eru börn1 um börn frá börnum2 til barna hér er sumar um sumar frá sumri3 til sumars hér eru sumur4 um sumur frá sumrum til sumra hér er tré um tré frá tré til trés hér eru tré um tré frá trjám5 til trjáa Here the plural of the neuter nouns shows an internal vowel change, called ablaut, which came about because of a u-ending in a previous stage of the language. Here the internal vowel change is due to the present ending -um. Another loss of root vowel when the ending is part of the stem. This is a change in internal vowel to indicate plural, however with u instead of ö. Here the u is contracted and the ending is just -m.