Accusative

Function

Typical function

The accusative case🇮🇸 þolfall is typically used to indicate the “patient” of an action. The patient is basically the object, person or idea that undergoes the action being performed in the sentence. Let’s look at some examples:

Krakkinn borðar smákökuna.
Jón keyrir bílinn.
Mamma kaupir fisk og kartöflur.

All the words in bold are in the accusative.

In the first example, smákökuna “the cookie” is undergoing the action of being eaten. We show that the cookie is the thing being eaten, and not krakkinn “the kid”, by putting the word smákakan in the accusative.

It’s the same idea in the second example. Bílinn “the car” is the thing being driven, so it goes into the accusative. In the last example, fisk “fish” and kartöflur “potatoes” are being bought, so they are also in the accusative.

Word order

Languages without cases, like English, typically indicate what is being done to who with word order. For example, “the kid eats the cookie” doesn’t mean the same thing as “the cookie eats the kid”.

Because Icelandic has cases, we can be a lot more flexible with the word order. So krakkinn borðar smákökuna means the same thing as smákökuna borðar krakkinn. This is because smákökuna is the accusative, and krakkinn, the doer of the action, is in the nominative.

The normal word order in Icelandic is the same as in English, but it can sometimes be changed around, especially in formal writing or poetry.

Pro explanation

The accusative normally indicates the direct object of a verb.

Other uses

Prepositions

Prepositions can take the accusative case:

Ég fer á kaffihús.
Við töluðum saman um vinnuna.
Elín fór með krakkana í skólann.

The prepositions á “on”, í “in”, undir “under” and yfir “over” can take either the accusative or the dative depending on whether there is motion or lack of motion in a sentence. For an explanation of this, see á, í, undir, yfir.

Whilst the prepositions fyrir “for, before, in front of”, með “with” and við “at, next to” can take either accusative or dative too, the rules for them aren’t to do with motion or lack of motion. See fyrir, með and við respectively for explanations.

Finally, there are prepositions like um and gegnum that always take the accusative. See a list of prepositions that govern the accusative.

Impersonal verbs

Normally the subject of a sentence is in the nominative. But certain verbs require their subject to be in a different case, and sometimes that’s the accusative:

Mig langar í ís.
Vantar þig ekki nýja skó?

See a list of verbs with an accusative subject.

Time expressions with durations

Expressions of time often involve a preposition, for example í dag “today” or á morgun “tomorrow”. That preposition can take either the accusative or dative case, and there’s not really much logic as to when which case is used.

Some time expressions involving durations don’t have any prepositions. In this situation, the time expression will be in the accusative:

Stefán vinnur alla daga til kl. 18.
Við bjuggum mörg ár á Ísafirði.
Ég var fjóra tíma að þvo bílinn í gær.

Formation

Singular

Masculine

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

💪 Strong	Remove the ending hest|ur → hest lækni|r → lækni bíl|l → bíl stein|n → stein
🥀 Weak	Change -i → -a krakki → krakka lampi → lampa penni → penna

The rule for strong nouns is simply to remove the ending. Some notes about endings of strong masculine nouns:

• For -ir, only the -r is removable in the accusative, the i remains.
• For -ll and -nn, only the second consonant is removable. The first consonant is part of the stem of the word.

For weak nouns, change the final -i to -a.

Feminine

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

💪 Strong	No change rós → rós mjólk → mjólk menntun → menntun But: æfing → æfingu
🥀 Weak	Change -a → -u  (+U-shift) kona → konu kaka → ⚠️ köku

Strong feminine nouns are dead easy in the accusative, because they’re exactly the same as the nominative! The only exceptions are:

• Nouns that end in -ing, which get a final -u in the accusative.
• Certain female names, such as Dagný og Sigríður, which become Dagnýju and Sigríði in the accusative. For more examples, see Personal names.

For weak feminine nouns, change the final -a to -u.

A really important point: this final -u causes U-shift where applicable, meaning that an a in the stem changes to ö or u. For an explanation of this process, see U-shift.

Neuter

The accusative of all neuter nouns is the same as the nominative.

💪 Strong	No change land → land skip → skip tré → tré
🥀 Weak	No change auga → auga eyra → eyra

That’s right: neuter nouns are exactly the same in the nominative and the accusative.

This is what distinguishes weak neuter nouns from weak feminine nouns (which both end in ‑a in the nominative). Weak feminine nouns get ‑u in the accusative, whereas weak neuter nouns keep their ‑a.

Plural

Masculine

To form the accusative plural of a masculine noun, first find its plural form in the nominative. The rule is this:

• If the nominative plural ends in ‑ar or ‑ir, remove the final ‑r;
• If the nominative plural ends in ‑ur, do nothing! 🥳

Let’s look at some examples:

	Nominative		Accusative
‑ar	hestar, læknar bílar, gafflar, speglar, steinar fossar, fuglar, prófessorar pennar, krakkar	Remove ‑r →	hesta, lækna bíla, gaffla, spegla, steina fossa, fugla, prófessora penna, krakka
‑ir	staðir, gestir, hvalir Danir		staði, gesti, hvali Dani
‑ur	nemendur, hlustendur bræður, feður bændur, frændur	Do nothing →	nemendur, hlustendur bræður, feður bændur, frændur

Not too complicated really! 😁

Feminine and neuter

Feminine and neuter nouns are both exactly the same in the nominative and accusative. One less rule to remember!

tip

Find out how to form the plural of feminine nouns and neuter nouns.