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Icelandic Grammar Help | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Ariail Newbie United States Joined 4245 days ago 23 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Finnish | Message 1 of 4 07 August 2013 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
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Hvað er síminn hjá þér, Ewa: What is your phone number, Ewa?
Síminn hjá mér er 928-0267: My phone number is 928-0267. Daniel, hvað er síminn hjá þér: Daniel, what is your phone number? Síminn minn er 932-1475: My phone number is 932-1475. This is a dialogue from the Icelandic Online course offered by the University of Iceland. The English translations were not provided by the course; they are my interpretations of the sentences. I can understand what is meant in this context, but I have a few questions about the dialogue. 1) What difference does adding "nn" to the end of "sími" make? 2) I understand "hjá" means "at/with", and "þér" is an honorific form of "you," but what does "hjá þér" mean? Logically, I would conclude it means "with you," but that doesn't make any sense in this sentence. 3) Is "hjá mér" the same thing as "minn"? If so, is the latter a more casual way of saying it? Thank you in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 2 of 4 07 August 2013 at 9:12pm | IP Logged |
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1) The -nn ending is the masculine definite article: "sími" ("(a) telephone") --> "síminn" ("the telephone"). Of course, in the English sentence, there is no "the" left. The reason for this is that possessive pronouns require the definite article in Icelandic: "síminn minn" ("my telephone (number)").
2) In this case, "þér" is no honorific pronoun but the dative case of "þú". The preposition "hjá" requires the dative case. The honorific pronoun "þér", however, has fallen out of use. You address everybody using "þú". Well, be that as it may, "hjá þér" actually means "with you" or "at you", but in this case it translates as "your". In Icelandic, you can't always use a possessive pronoun when you would use it in English. For body parts, you say they're "on you" ("á þér"), and obviously you can use "hjá" for things as phone numbers. 3) The other way round: "Minn" is more formal than "hjá mér", but yes, they both mean more or less the same. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ariail Newbie United States Joined 4245 days ago 23 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Finnish | Message 3 of 4 07 August 2013 at 10:16pm | IP Logged |
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Ah, I see. Do you know of any websites that teach you essential Icelandic grammar? This icelandic course teaches
grammar indirectly, which is something I can appreciate, but it is necessary to know the cases when you're constructing sentences. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 4 of 4 07 August 2013 at 11:04pm | IP Logged |
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Sorry, I learned Icelandic with an ordinary textbook (Colloquial), but you could try this site. I don't know how grammar is taught there though.
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