Genitive

Function

Typical function

The genitive case🇮🇸 eignarfall is typically used to indicate the possessor of an object:

Þetta er tölva Jóns Jónssonar.
Húsið er í eigu íslenska ríkisins.
Handritið er í húsi Stofnunar Árna Magnússonar.

All the words in bold are in the genitive.

Pro explanation

The genitive has a similar function to the possessive ’s in English. However, how it’s formed is a bit different.

Other uses

Prepositions

Some prepositions, such as án, til and vegna, take the genitive case:

Ég drekk ekki kaffi án sykurs.
Eigum við að fara til Siggu og Sigga á eftir?
Vegurinn er ófær vegna veðurs.

The most common ones are those listed above. There are quite a few more that are only used in writing or formal speech, such as sökum and utan. See a list of prepositions that govern the genitive.

As an adjective complement

Genitive constructions are often found alongside adjectives where there is some kind of unit of measurement involved:

Eva er þrjátíu og tveggja ára gömul.
Það er þriggja tíma flug til Kaupmannahafnar.
Við búum í átta hæða blokk.

The unit of measurement can be a 📏 spatial one, such as a metre, mile, storey of a building and so on, or one of ⏰ time, such as a day, month, year and so on.

You might have seen genitive constructions when talking about your age. Here, the number of years old you are is counted as a measurement.

Verbs that have a genitive direct object

A few verbs in Icelandic take the genitive, although only a handful are common in everyday speech:

Njóttu frísins!
Hundurinn gætir hvolpanna sinna.
Fyrirtækið leitar fjárhagslegrar aðstoðar.

Sometimes there is a way to avoid using a genitive by using a preposition instead. For example, it’s more common to say leita að/eftir “to look for” rather than leita with a genitive. The version with the genitive has a formal ring to it.

Genitive avoidance

There’s a tendency amongst many native speakers of modern Icelandic to avoid genitive constructions in speech. This can be done by:

• Using a different preposition that doesn’t govern the genitive, e.g. senda á (+acc). instead of senda til;
• Rephrasing possessive constructions using the verb eiga;
• Substituting a verb that governs the genitive for one that doesn’t, e.g. búast við (+dat.) instead of vænta.

As such, using the genitive frequently in speech can lend a formal air to the way you speak. It’s not at all incorrect to use the genitive when talking, but it can make you sound a bit more educated (or old-fashioned)!

It’s relatively easy to avoid the genitive as so few prepositions and verbs govern it. But in writing and formal speech, the genitive is still very much going strong.

Formation

Singular

Masculine

To form the genitive singular of masculine nouns, follow the rules below.

💪 Strong	Remove the ending and add ‑s stein|n → steins lækni|r → læknis bíl|l → bíls fugl| → fugls Remove the ending and add ‑s or ‑ar hest|ur → hests stað|ur → staðar
🥀 Weak	Change ‑i → ‑a krakki → krakka lampi → lampa penni → penna

All masculine strong nouns get -s in the genitive, except certain ones that end in -ur, which get -ar. Many of the ones that get -ar are the same ones that have an -ir plural or no -i in the dative singular. But there are plenty of exceptions.

Weak masculine nouns are the same as the accusative and dative.

Feminine

To form the genitive singular of feminine nouns, follow the rules below.

💪 Strong	Add ‑ar rós → rósar verslun → verslunar æfing → æfingar Add ‑ur mjólk → mjólkur vík → víkur
🥀 Weak	Change ‑a → ‑u  (+U‑shift) kona → konu kaka → ⚠️ köku

Some notes about the feminine singular genitive:

• The majority of nouns get -ar, which can cause reverse U-shift in words that have an ö in the stem, e.g. röð → raðar, vör → varar. If the noun ends in -un however, this does not apply, e.g. verslun → verslunar, Steinunn → Steinunnar.
• Some nouns ending in -k get -ur, e.g. vík → víkur. Most of them end in -ík, except for mjólk.
• Nouns ending in -l get j before the -ar ending, e.g. skel → skeljar.
• The weak feminine genitive is the same as the accusative and dative.

Neuter

To form the genitive of singular neuter nouns, follow the rules below.

💪 Strong	Add ‑s land → lands skip → skips barn → barns veski → veskis Irregular: fé → fjár
🥀 Weak	No change auga → auga eyra → eyra

Every single strong neuter noun gets -s in the genitive, apart from fé, which is irregular.

Weak neuter nouns are the same in the genitive as all the other cases.

Plural

The genitive plural ending, -a, is one of the more predictable case endings in Icelandic. The majority of nouns of all genders will get -a in the gentive plural.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Strong	hesta staða steina bíla spegla lækna	rósa bóka verslana æfinga skelja stöðva	landa skipa veskja
Weak	krakka lampa penna	kakna gatna But: kvenna	augna hjartna

Unlike in the genitive singular, the -a ending causes reverse U-shift in feminine nouns ending in -un, e.g. verslun → verslana.

j-insertion

In neuter nouns ending in -i in the nominative, a j is inserted before the -a ending, e.g veski → veskja, tæki → tækja. This is to preserve the palatised pronunciation of <k> (transcribed as /c/).

A j is also inserted before the -a ending in strong feminine nouns ending in -l, e.g. skel → skelja.

Genitive plural with -na

As you may have noticed in the table above, some nouns get -na in the genitive plural, rather than just -a. This mostly happens in feminine and neuter weak nouns. The general rule is:

• All weak neuter nouns get -na in the genitive plural;
• Weak feminine nouns tend to get -na unless the stem ends in j, n, r or v. There are quite a few exceptions to this rule though, and sometimes both forms exist, e.g. nom. sing. kaka → gen. plu. kakna or kaka.

Some weak feminine nouns whose stem ends in j do get -na in the genitive plural, in which case the j is removed:

• áhyggja → áhyggna
• ekkja → ekkna
• kirkja → kirkna
• sprengja → sprengna