SPURNINGAR / QUESTIONS

[Śrāmaṇera]

Ég hef ekki skrifað neitt á íslensku síðan ég kom til Asíu. Í dag langar mig að profa að skrifa eitthvað stutt hér. Ég veit ekki hvort ég gæti fengið leiðrétta frá einhverjum.

Ég er í alvöru búinn að gleyma miklu. Íslenska málfræðin er rósalega erfið en samt hef ég ennþá áhuga á læra hana.

Núna ætla ég ekki að fara aftur til Íslands bráðum af því að það er bara of dýrt að fljúga þangað. Samt, stundum ég held að það væri gott að hitta Íslendinga hér í Kína. En ég hef ekki hugmynd hvernig ég gæti finnt þeim.

[shprakh]

I installed the Icelandic keyboard on my laptop, but I can't find some letters. Can anyone tell me how to make the ö?

[Śrāmaṇera]

It's the key on the right of the "0" (zero).

[JackFrost]

I installed the Icelandic keyboard on my laptop, but I can't find some letters. Can anyone tell me how to make the ö?

The Wiki is your friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Icelandic

[shprakh]

Thank you guys

[joetheblack]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to translate one technical paper from icelandic and cannot find two words:
Stífufestingar
stýrisarmur

they are some parts of a car, the documents is about a modifications to Nissan patrol to make it larger, higher and more icelandic

does anyone know what are these things in english, or at least describe it in detail, so i can find it out what part of a car it is?

thank you in advance,

Joe

[kaptengrot]

My basic question is, when do you use active mood in Icelandic? Since I was told you always use it after "geta", are there other times/verbs when you always use it with?

[kaptengrot]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to translate one technical paper from icelandic and cannot find two words:
Stífufestingar
stýrisarmur

I posted this on tumblr, and a native speaker replied:

All I can personally tell you is that stýrisarmur sounds like something that would be on an old school ship steering wheel, you know with those wooden arm things. But if it’s in a car, I’m not sure. Perhaps a leaver that the steering wheel is attached to?

And festingar are something like clamps, something you use to attach something to something.

[lykke]

Hello,

this is my first time posting here, I'm still very much a beginner at Icelandic.

Anyway, my textbook has both "á flugvöll" and "á flugvöllinn" translated as "at the airport". (Technically is has them listed as "am Flughafen" as it's a German textbook. ) What is the difference? I mean, obviously the definite article, but when do I use which of the two? It's a bit confusing for me, especially as they are used when talking about a specific airport both times.

Thanks in advance!

[Petrovitch]

A question about the genitive case.

So when you use possessive pronouns is it 'bíllinn minn' or do you use the genitive of the noun instead, 'bíls minn'?

takk

[September]

A question about the genitive case.

So when you use possessive pronouns is it 'bíllinn minn' or do you use the genitive of the noun instead, 'bíls minn'?

takk

The case of the possessive has to match the case of the noun, so "bíls minn" would be incorrect, since "minn" is in the nominative and "bíls" is in the genitive. Also, you usually put the definite article (-inn) on the noun when forming a possessive (there are some exceptions). "Bílinn minn" would be correct in the nominative case. Depending on which verb or noun is in the sentence, you might have a possessive construction in any of the four cases, but the case of the noun and the case of the possessive pronoun will always be the same.

[Śrāmaṇera]

"Bílinn minn" would be correct in the nominative case.

I assume you meant bíllin minn. "bílinn minn" would be the accusative case.

[September]

"Bílinn minn" would be correct in the nominative case.

I assume you meant bíllin minn. "bílinn minn" would be the accusative case.

Whoops! Yes, that's what I meant.

[Hyyrynen]

Þegar víkingar fóru um á skipum sínum...

Could any icelander translate this phrase? I'm having difficulties understanding the "um á" part.

[Gavril]

Þegar víkingar fóru um á skipum sínum...

Could any icelander translate this phrase? I'm having difficulties understanding the "um á" part.

I am not Icelandic, but I think that this means "When the Vikings traveled in their ships".

fara um = to travel (about)

[JohnRim]

Hvernig segir maður (um taugakerfið) "work as it should" á íslensku?

[Thunderman47]

Hello. I am a very beginner in the icelandic language, and I am happy to have found this forum.
Hæ. Ég er byrjandi í íslensku og er mjög ánægður að hafa fundið þetta spjallborð.

I would like to know the meaning of the following expression:
"Þú ert ekki allur þar sem þú ert séður"
Impossible to find a translation. I guess it is an idiomatic expression.
Anyone here would be kind enough to help me?
Thank you for your help...

[KevinBordeaux]

Vinsamlegast, could you help me to check if my translation is good.

I have translate this :

"Untill the twilight, honor the sacred that is in you." (the sacred of the nordic paganism)

into :

"Virtu það heilaga sem inni í þér býr þar til það rökkvar. "

But i'm not sur at all... It's for an fresco, so i don't want to fail

Can somebody help me ?

Best regards, Kevin

[ummah]

This may be a really naive question, I don't have access to a native speaker so I'm kind of 'learning by the book'. Are the /ð/ of 'að' and the /ɣ/ of 'ég' elided? I'm used to Swedish's 'elide everything' and I'm finding it difficult to pronounce the velar fricative especially, but also /ð/ before /t d/, like 'að tala'. Can I drop these sounds, or will it sound weird and Swedish-y?

[SomehowGeekyPolyglot]

Icelandic is among the languages I intend to familiarize myself with a bit, but without actively trying to really learn them in the way I am actively learning Spanish and others.
I'd like to be able to speak very basic Icelandic.

However, because of time and Daily Language Energy Grand Total "issues" I am not able to put a lot of focus on the multitude of different cases.

So how to learn very basic spoken Icelandic without focusing too much on the different cases?