My self-study Icelandic journey: From the beginning
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- Here's an update on my Icelandic language learning journey including my current level of fluency and what I am doing to build on it.
Will the Icelandic Made Eas(ier) self-study course get me there? Find out in this video.
Here are the links to Siggi's website if you want to learn more. The articles on there are so helpful.
Icelandic Made Eas(ier) by Siggi
www.icelandicmadeeasier.com/
The self-study course I am currently doing:
www.icelandicmadeeasier.com/s...
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Time stamps:
00:00 - Why I am doing this course
02:45 - Meet Siggi, the instructor
03:45 - First day of the self-study course
04:05 - The Icelandic book I am reading now
05:31 - The 3 pillars of the self-study course
06:14 - How often I plan to share about this journey
07:01: How I get in speaking Icelandic to practice
Follow me over on Instagram:
/ allthingsiceland
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All Things Iceland podcast
Hear interviews with natives and ex-pats that dive deep into Icelandic history, language, nature, and culture, as well as learn new Icelandic words and phrases.
Available for download at:
My website - allthingsiceland.com
Apple podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Google Play
Stitcher
TuneIn
PlayerFm
Overcast
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I am so very happy for you. When I was learning Spanish my teacher who was from Spain he said immersion is the best way to learn a language.
Thank you! Yes, immersion makes a big difference. 😊
Icelandic is a very easy language, one of the top five easiest languages to learn and pronounce, after Dutch, which is the 2nd easiest to learn language (Dutch is the 2nd easiest, after English, which is the absolute easiest ever in every way) and, Norwegian and Norse, and I am close to an advanced level in Icelandic (upper intermediate level in Icelandic and Norse) after only learning them for a few months, plus I am learning tons of other languages as well, and I shall share some very important info and patterns and grammatical rules as well as pronunciation rules (for Icelandic and Norse) that will make it easy for learners to decline words and conjugate verbs in Icelandic and Norse, and I highly recommend reading them, and then revising them many times regularly to learn them by heart, one at a time or a few at a time, as it will make learning these languages way easier - and, in general, to see fast progress, one must learn as many new words as possible regularly, like hundreds and thousands of new words every week, while constantly revising and rewatching vocab videos with previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times over a longer period of time, and memorizing + analyzing as many lyrics as possible, and using G translate a lot to learn new words, and always watching every video and movie with subs in Icelandic, and it’s even better if one has access to extra resources, and they can all be used 2gether, because, if one only learns a few new words per day, it is akin to passive learning, which can take over 15 years, as it does when one is learning the first language one is made to learn, as most reach a native speaker level in the first language by the time they finish highschool or college, but, if one is actively learning a language, by learning as many hundreds and thousands of words as possible automatically by revising them and seeing them and hearing them many times over a period of time, one can get fluent in the new language or languages in just a few years, and I highly recommend learning at least 35.000 base words automatically, to be truly fluent as most 30+ yo (that read a lot and listen to a lot of music) are in the first language!
I highly recommend learning Icelandic 2gether with Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh as these languages are eight of the prettiest languages ever, as pretty and refined and poetic as English, so they are way too pretty not to learn, and are a must-know for every learner, plus they are the most fun to learn and speak and hear and see, so learning them will also make the learning process real enjoyable - Breton / Cornish (and Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic) are also super gorgeous, and also, Slovene and Hungarian and Galician / Latin / Gallo are also very fun, and Slovene has some of the most epic ‘bæd’ words I have ever seen / heard, which sound very poetic!
By the way, I am native speaker level in Spanish since childhood as I learned it in a passive way, so I can say anything automatically in Spanish, without having to think about it, as I have a fully developed automatic Spanish mode - but Spanish has way more verb tenses than Icelandic and it has over 100 verb forms for each verb, wherea most Icelandic words such as the nouns only have like 16 forms (that follow the same patterns associated with each group of nouns) and Icelandic verbs have only three main tenses, and one of them is with the auxiliary verb to have, and the future tense is also with an auxiliary verb + infinitive (ég mun læra = I will learn) which are super easy to learn, plus 2 subjunctive cases that have most forms that are the same as the normal present tense and past tense forms, and each group of nouns / verbs etc have the exact same word endings in Icelandic, so once one learns the patterns and the word endings associated with each group of nouns or verbs or adjectives, one can decline and conjugate almost any word naturally, as there aren’t many exceptions, like,, I can remember all the declensions and conjugations of a word after seeing them once or twice, as I know the base word and the typical endings associated with each group of words automatically, and when I come across nouns or verbs etc that do not follow the same patterns, I add them to a list and I revise those more...
For example...
- masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) always have inn at the end in nominative and accusative when they are definite and singular as inn means the for masculine nouns
- the plural forms of nouns in dative are always um (indefinite) and unum (definite) for all nouns with no exceptions (at least, I haven’t seen any exceptions yet, and these two are also the same in Norse)
- the definite singular forms for feminine nouns are always in (for nominative definite singular nouns that are feminine) and ina or ana or una (in accusative) and it is like that for all feminine singular nouns
- the dative singular definite forms are usually inum (for masculine nouns and for neutral nouns that are definite and singular) and inni or unni or anni (for feminine nouns) and sometimes the dative singular ending is also num for masculine and possibly neutral nouns tho it is very rare, so masculine and neutral nouns usually have the definite form inum
- the indefinite form is usually i for both masculine and neutral nouns that are singular and indefinite, so the definite form is basically the indefinite form + num
- the plural forms in nominative are usually ur / ir (for feminine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and urnar / irnar (for plural definite nouns that are feminine, so the definite forms are basically the indefinite forms + nar, nar being the typical feminine ending for nouns that are plural and definite) and ir (for masculine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and irnir (for masculine nouns that are plural and definite) and in (for neutral nouns that are definite and plural) and, there are a few other plural indefinite nominative forms, but these are the forms that most plural nouns have
- the definite ending for neutral nouns that are singular is ið in Icelandic (and it in Norse)
- the genitive endings are usually s / ar (for masculine singular indefinite nouns) and s (for neutral singular indefinite nouns) and ar (for feminine singular indefinite nouns) and s+ins / ar+ins (for masculine singular definite nouns) and s+ins (for masculine singular neutral nouns) and ar+innar (for feminine singular definite nouns) and a / na / ra (for plural indefinite nouns) and anna (for plural definite nouns) with almost no exceptions, so they follow these patterns almost always
- feminine nouns that have an a in their nominative singular form are spellt with ö in their dative forms, and masculine nouns too, for example, a masculine noun like bani (nominative and singular and indefinite) becomes bönum (dative plural indefinite) and bönunum (dative plural definite)
- the a to ö change is also used in verbs, for example, for the verb að hafa (to have) which has an a after the first letter, the singular form ég hef (I have) becomes við höfum (we have) and it’s usually the form that is used with we that is affected by this change in present tense and in past tense it affects both the form that’s used with we (við höfðum) and the form that’s used with they (þeir höfðu) and, it’s exactly the same in Norse, except for the ö which is usually spellt ǫ in present tense and ó or ǫ in past tense, so one just has to remember that whenever there is a change, it is usually a change from a to ö in Icelandic and from a to some type of o letter in Norse
Icelandic also has three standalone definite articles for singular nouns, which are, hinn for masculine nouns, hin for feminine nouns, and hið for neutral nouns, and, in Norse they are hinn / hin / hitt (?) and inn / in / it or itt, and, they can also mean the other when the normal definite form is used after them, for example, hinn skógur means the forest in nominative, while hinn skógurinn means the other forest in nominative, which would be hinn skóg and hinn skóginn in accusative, as the accusative form for masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) is almost always the nominative form minus the ur!
Some of the most notable differences between Norse and Icelandic are...
- the R vs UR word ending (for example, vindr vs vindur = wind / veðr vs veður = weather)
- the Norse letters ǫ / ǫ́ / œ / ǿ / ø are spellt with the letter ö in Icelandic (ǫld vs öld = age)
- the definite article it is spellt ið in Icelandic (veðrit vs veðrið = the weather)
- the letters d and t at the end of short words is spellt ð in Icelandic (at vs að = to + that)
- the special Norse letters ą / ę / į / ǫ / ų and the long version of these letters aren’t used in Icelandic (ęsir = gods)
- certain adjective endings are slightly different (likr vs legur = like)
So interesting! I started learning Icelandic for fun and am now probably close to a C1 level. I've never lived in Iceland (jealous of you!), but I listen and read daily. Ég hlusta á útvarpið og hlaðvörp á hverjum degi og lesa bækur. Ég er nefnilega akkúrat núna að lesa bók efter Arnald Indriðasyni sem heitir 'Tregasteinn.' Mjög góð, að sjálfsögðu. Allavega, gangi þér vel með íslenskunni og takk fyrir videóið!
Congrats on 50k subs being imminent!!!! Well deserved.😊
Thank you so much 🤗
C1 is really excellent, congratulations! I suppose by now you can read adult fiction written directly in Icelandic. Here in France, Icelandic crime fiction is very popular. I was in the Metro today and saw a poster campaign for Arnaldur Indridasson's latest novel. The novels of Ysra Sigurdardottir and Ragnar Jonasson are also widely read here. Hey, Jewels how about a video on these Icelandic writers?! I'd like to know how one of the safest countries in the world can produce works pivoting around so many dastardly crimes!
Thank you!! I love the idea of talking about that so thank you for suggesting it. 😊
I second this suggestion ! Maybe you can get some interviews too ??
Haha, you're right about the crime novels in relatively crime-free Iceland! I'm at about a C1 level now and I love Arnaldur Indriðason's books. Currently reading one of his Konráð series.
The best way to learn a language is to mix with the people . I lived in Germany for 6 years nobody spoke English to me so you learn quicker .German is also not an easy language , but I became fluent quickly because I had to . I worked in a bakery shop so was speaking with people all day . I’m not saying my grammar was always good but it’s the best way of learning . German has a lot of Icelandic letter sounds .
omg, behind you is the maritime museum! so cool seeing you're walking right where my sister and i visited for the first time! God i'd love to go back
As a long ago exchange student from the US to Iceland this is the type of content I really enjoy. The language learning tips are very helpful. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it and my pleasure 😊
I am rooting for you Jewels. I like his method. I learned Spanish in school, but learned Italian (intermediate) the way he is teaching it. I listen to Andrea Bocelli (my favorite) and Italian movies, etc...and read Italian. These other avenues could help you in being more fluent in Icelandic. 😊
Thank you!! So cool that you learned Italian this way. Yes, music is such a fun way to learn.
hey, we met when you were taking B2! (and I was in something much more elementary than that) -- will be interested to follow your progress, as i've been in a language plateau myself & hope to start climbing forward again soon...
Hi Laura! Yes, I remember meeting you. I hope all is well in your area of the Westfjords. 😊
This was interesting, just in the framework of learning any new language as an adult. Always pleased to see your updates. Tks!
Will do and glad you found it interesting. 😊
I always wondered how your Icelandic language was coming along! Thank You!😊
My pleasure and more to come. 🤗
Icelandic is a very easy language, one of the top five easiest languages to learn and pronounce, after Dutch, which is the 2nd easiest to learn language (Dutch is the 2nd easiest, after English, which is the absolute easiest ever in every way) and, Norwegian and Norse, and I am close to an advanced level in Icelandic (upper intermediate level in Icelandic and Norse) after only learning them for a few months, plus I am learning tons of other languages as well, and I shall share some very important info and patterns and grammatical rules as well as pronunciation rules (for Icelandic and Norse) that will make it easy for learners to decline words and conjugate verbs in Icelandic and Norse, and I highly recommend reading them, and then revising them many times regularly to learn them by heart, one at a time or a few at a time, as it will make learning these languages way easier - and, in general, to see fast progress, one must learn as many new words as possible regularly, like hundreds and thousands of new words every week, while constantly revising and rewatching vocab videos with previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times over a longer period of time, and memorizing + analyzing as many lyrics as possible, and using G translate a lot to learn new words, and always watching every video and movie with subs in Icelandic, and it’s even better if one has access to extra resources, and they can all be used 2gether, because, if one only learns a few new words per day, it is akin to passive learning, which can take over 15 years, as it does when one is learning the first language one is made to learn, as most reach a native speaker level in the first language by the time they finish highschool or college, but, if one is actively learning a language, by learning as many hundreds and thousands of words as possible automatically by revising them and seeing them and hearing them many times over a period of time, one can get fluent in the new language or languages in just a few years, and I highly recommend learning at least 35.000 base words automatically, to be truly fluent as most 30+ yo (that read a lot and listen to a lot of music) are in the first language!
I highly recommend learning Icelandic 2gether with Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh as these languages are eight of the prettiest languages ever, as pretty and refined and poetic as English, so they are way too pretty not to learn, and are a must-know for every learner, plus they are the most fun to learn and speak and hear and see, so learning them will also make the learning process real enjoyable - Breton / Cornish (and Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic) are also super gorgeous, and also, Slovene and Hungarian and Galician / Latin / Gallo are also very fun, and Slovene has some of the most epic ‘bæd’ words I have ever seen / heard, which sound very poetic!
Most Icelandic words such as the nouns only have like 16 forms (that follow the same patterns associated with each group of nouns) and Icelandic verbs have only three main tenses, and one of them is with the auxiliary verb to have, and the future tense is also with an auxiliary verb + infinitive (ég mun læra = I will learn) which are super easy to learn, plus 2 subjunctive cases that have most forms that are the same as the normal present tense and past tense forms, and each group of nouns / verbs etc have the exact same word endings in Icelandic, so once one learns the patterns and the word endings associated with each group of nouns or verbs or adjectives, one can decline and conjugate almost any word naturally, as there aren’t many exceptions, like,, I can remember all the declensions and conjugations of a word after seeing them once or twice, as I know the base word and the typical endings associated with each group of words automatically, and when I come across nouns or verbs etc that do not follow the same patterns, I add them to a list and I revise those more...
For example...
- masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) always have inn at the end in nominative and accusative when they are definite and singular as inn means the for masculine nouns
- the plural forms of nouns in dative are always um (indefinite) and unum (definite) for all nouns with no exceptions (at least, I haven’t seen any exceptions yet, and these two are also the same in Norse)
- the definite singular forms for feminine nouns are always in (for nominative definite singular nouns that are feminine) and ina or ana or una (in accusative) and it is like that for all feminine singular nouns
- the dative singular definite forms are usually inum (for masculine nouns and for neutral nouns that are definite and singular) and inni or unni or anni (for feminine nouns) and sometimes the dative singular ending is also num for masculine and possibly neutral nouns tho it is very rare, so masculine and neutral nouns usually have the definite form inum
- the indefinite form is usually i for both masculine and neutral nouns that are singular and indefinite, so the definite form is basically the indefinite form + num
- the plural forms in nominative are usually ur / ir (for feminine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and urnar / irnar (for plural definite nouns that are feminine, so the definite forms are basically the indefinite forms + nar, nar being the typical feminine ending for nouns that are plural and definite) and ir (for masculine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and irnir (for masculine nouns that are plural and definite) and in (for neutral nouns that are definite and plural) and, there are a few other plural indefinite nominative forms, but these are the forms that most plural nouns have
- the definite ending for neutral nouns that are singular is ið in Icelandic (and it in Norse)
- the genitive endings are usually s / ar (for masculine singular indefinite nouns) and s (for neutral singular indefinite nouns) and ar (for feminine singular indefinite nouns) and s+ins / ar+ins (for masculine singular definite nouns) and s+ins (for masculine singular neutral nouns) and ar+innar (for feminine singular definite nouns) and a / na / ra (for plural indefinite nouns) and anna (for plural definite nouns) with almost no exceptions, so they follow these patterns almost always
- feminine nouns that have an a in their nominative singular form are spellt with ö in their dative forms, and masculine nouns too, for example, a masculine noun like bani (nominative and singular and indefinite) becomes bönum (dative plural indefinite) and bönunum (dative plural definite)
- the a to ö change is also used in verbs, for example, for the verb að hafa (to have) which has an a after the first letter, the singular form ég hef (I have) becomes við höfum (we have) and it’s usually the form that is used with we that is affected by this change in present tense and in past tense it affects both the form that’s used with we (við höfðum) and the form that’s used with they (þeir höfðu) and, it’s exactly the same in Norse, except for the ö which is usually spellt ǫ in present tense and ó or ǫ in past tense, so one just has to remember that whenever there is a change, it is usually a change from a to ö in Icelandic and from a to some type of o letter in Norse
Icelandic also has three standalone definite articles for singular nouns, which are, hinn for masculine nouns, hin for feminine nouns, and hið for neutral nouns, and, in Norse they are hinn / hin / hitt (?) and inn / in / it or itt, and, they can also mean the other when the normal definite form is used after them, for example, hinn skógur means the forest in nominative, while hinn skógurinn means the other forest in nominative, which would be hinn skóg and hinn skóginn in accusative, as the accusative form for masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) is almost always the nominative form minus the ur!
Some of the most notable differences between Norse and Icelandic are...
- the R vs UR word ending (for example, vindr vs vindur = wind / veðr vs veður = weather)
- the Norse letters ǫ / ǫ́ / œ / ǿ / ø are spellt with the letter ö in Icelandic (ǫld vs öld = age)
- the definite article it is spellt ið in Icelandic (veðrit vs veðrið = the weather)
- the letters d and t at the end of short words is spellt ð in Icelandic (at vs að = to + that)
- the special Norse letters ą / ę / į / ǫ / ų and the long version of these letters aren’t used in Icelandic (ęsir = gods)
- certain adjective endings are slightly different (likr vs legur = like)
I just found your channel today, and i'm really glad I did :D I really want to learn Icelandic (maybe even live there if life goes well) and learn as much about the country as I can and your channel is just what I needed!! Thank you for sharing your experience with others
That’s awesome and my pleasure!
I highly recommend reading all this important info re learning Icelandic and grammar rules that I shall share, and I highly recommend learning Icelandic 2gether with Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh as these languages are eight of the prettiest languages ever, as pretty and refined and poetic as English, so they are way too pretty not to learn, and are a must-know for every learner, plus they are the most fun to learn and speak and hear and see, so learning them will also make the learning process real enjoyable - Breton / Cornish (and Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic) are also super gorgeous, and also, Slovene and Hungarian and Galician / Latin / Gallo are also very fun, and Slovene has some of the most epic ‘bæd’ words I have ever seen / heard, which sound very poetic!
Here are some of the most important sounds + pronunciation rules in Icelandic, as Icelandic has one of the easiest / prettiest / coolest pronunciations ever, having a category 1 pronunciation with super cool modern sounds! - the eth letter ð is an approximant of the letter D (a less obvious D similar to the D in the Spanish word nada and like the TH in the English words this and that) and the thorn letter þ is an approximant of T (a less obvious T that’s sort of lisped, and it is the same sound as the TH in the English words think and thing, though it sounds closer to a normal T sound in Icelandic)
More pronunciation rules and sounds in Icelandic...
- the HV is pronounced KV
- the NN is pronounced as a TN if it comes after Æ and after EI / EY and after a long vowel such as Á / É / Í / Ó / Ú (but it is a normal N sound if it comes after the short vowels A / E / I / O / U and in inn word combinations, and I recommend adding a very soft breathy H sound to the ‘inn’ word ending in masculine words to make it a bit different from the word ending ‘in’ which is the feminine word ending, like I do, as I pronounce the inn more like ihn in masculine nouns and masculine adjectives that have the inn word ending, which represents the definite article in nouns, tho there are also three articles that aren’t added to the noun, namely hinn and hin and hið, so, one can say hinn stormur or stormurinn and hinn storm or storminn as both mean the storm in nominative and accusative)
- the LL is usually pronounced TL in most words and if the LL is at the end of the word it sounds more like a weak T sound
- the RN is pronounced with an extra soft ‘nasal’ T sound between the R and the N (so a word like þarna sounds like thartna)
- the FL / FN letter combinations are pronounced PL / PN (so F becomes a P sound if it’s before an L or an N)
- the G is ultra soft in short words like ég and mig etc, so it is pronounced more like an H sound (so ég sounds like yeh) and the G in the middle of the words is kinda soft (in words like segja / saga / segir etc it is a soft G that is still a G sound and not an H) and the Gs and GGs can also sound like Ks in many of the words if they are at the end of the word or even in the middle of the word and sometimes even at the beginning of the word (same as in Old Norse) tho Gs are usually pronounced like a normal G sound if they are at the beginning of the word (except for a few words)
- the KK / TT etc is pronounced more like HK / HT as a soft breathy H sound is included before the K / T sound when there is a double consonant and even when there are two different consonants (for example, ekki sounds like ehki and óútreiknanlegt sounds like outreihnanleht etc)
- the letter F is usually pronounced like a V if it’s in the middle of the word or at the end of the word (so leyfa sounds like leyva) and it is pronounced like a normal F sound if it’s at the beginning of the word or very close to the beginning of the word (for example, if a words starts with af, the af is pronounced af, not av)
The diphthongs and umlauts and vowels in Icelandic...
- AU is pronounced EOI (normal e sound + normal o sound + normal i sound said 2gether fast in one sound)
- EI / EY are pronounced EI / EY (same as they are spellt)
- the Æ / æ is usually pronounced ai in most Icelandic words (but hvenær seems to be pronounced kvenar and not really kvenair, so it depends on the word)
- Ö is an EO sound (normal e sound + normal o sound said 2gether in one sound, like the œ in the French word cœur)
- Ó is usually pronounced OU
- O is usually pronounced UO and sometimes as a normal O sound aka oh (depending on the word)
- Ú is a normal u sound (uh)
- U is a more rounded YU sound (like the u in the French word mur and it is also the same sound as the Ü in Hungarian and German and the same sound as the UU in Dutch in words like muur and duur) tho in some words it is pronounced like a normal U sound (especially at the beginning of the word in words like ungur, and when there are multiple Us in the same word it’s usually the last U that is pronounced like YU and most other Us are pronounced like a normal U sound in that kind of words)
- Á is an AU sound in almost every word (there are only a few exceptions)
- A is a normal a sound (ah) and the A before NG / NK is pronounced like an AU sound just like the Á (so að ganga sounds like ath gaunga and it means to walk)
- É is an YE sound (normal i sound + normal e sound)
- E is a normal e sound (full e sound aka eh)
- Í / Ý is a normal i sound (ih)
- I / Y is a half i sound (this sound is very similar to how the i is pronounced in most English words like fit and chips and this, so it’s sort of like a weak i that goes more towards an e sound, but it isn’t a full e sound, and it isn’t a full i sound either, so it’s right between an i sound and an e sound)
Icelandic is a very easy language, one of the top five easiest languages to learn and pronounce, after Dutch, which is the 2nd easiest to learn language (Dutch is the 2nd easiest, after English, which is the absolute easiest ever in every way) and, Norwegian and Norse, and I am close to an advanced level in Icelandic (upper intermediate level in Icelandic and Norse) after only learning them for a few months, plus I am learning tons of other languages as well, and I shall share some very important info and patterns and grammatical rules as well as pronunciation rules (for Icelandic and Norse) that will make it easy for learners to decline words and conjugate verbs in Icelandic and Norse, and I highly recommend reading them, and then revising them many times regularly to learn them by heart, one at a time or a few at a time, as it will make learning these languages way easier - and, in general, to see fast progress, one must learn as many new words as possible regularly, like hundreds and thousands of new words every week, while constantly revising and rewatching vocab videos with previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times over a longer period of time, and memorizing + analyzing as many lyrics as possible, and using G translate a lot to learn new words, and always watching every video and movie with subs in Icelandic, and it’s even better if one has access to extra resources, and they can all be used 2gether, because, if one only learns a few new words per day, it is akin to passive learning, which can take over 15 years, as it does when one is learning the first language one is made to learn, as most reach a native speaker level in the first language by the time they finish highschool or college, but, if one is actively learning a language, by learning as many hundreds and thousands of words as possible automatically by revising them and seeing them and hearing them many times over a period of time, one can get fluent in the new language or languages in just a few years, and I highly recommend learning at least 35.000 base words automatically, to be truly fluent as most 30+ yo (that read a lot and listen to a lot of music) are in the first language!
Most Icelandic words such as the nouns only have like 16 forms (that follow the same patterns associated with each group of nouns) and Icelandic verbs have only three main tenses, and one of them is with the auxiliary verb to have, and the future tense is also with an auxiliary verb + infinitive (ég mun læra = I will learn) which are super easy to learn, plus 2 subjunctive cases that have most forms that are the same as the normal present tense and past tense forms, and each group of nouns / verbs etc have the exact same word endings in Icelandic, so once one learns the patterns and the word endings associated with each group of nouns or verbs or adjectives, one can decline and conjugate almost any word naturally, as there aren’t many exceptions, like,, I can remember all the declensions and conjugations of a word after seeing them once or twice, as I know the base word and the typical endings associated with each group of words automatically, and when I come across nouns or verbs etc that do not follow the same patterns, I add them to a list and I revise those more...
For example...
- masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) always have inn at the end in nominative and accusative when they are definite and singular as inn means the for masculine nouns
- the plural forms of nouns in dative are always um (indefinite) and unum (definite) for all nouns with no exceptions (at least, I haven’t seen any exceptions yet, and these two are also the same in Norse)
- the definite singular forms for feminine nouns are always in (for nominative definite singular nouns that are feminine) and ina or ana or una (in accusative) and it is like that for all feminine singular nouns
- the dative singular definite forms are usually inum (for masculine nouns and for neutral nouns that are definite and singular) and inni or unni or anni (for feminine nouns) and sometimes the dative singular ending is also num for masculine and possibly neutral nouns tho it is very rare, so masculine and neutral nouns usually have the definite form inum
- the indefinite form is usually i for both masculine and neutral nouns that are singular and indefinite, so the definite form is basically the indefinite form + num
- the plural forms in nominative are usually ur / ir (for feminine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and urnar / irnar (for plural definite nouns that are feminine, so the definite forms are basically the indefinite forms + nar, nar being the typical feminine ending for nouns that are plural and definite) and ir (for masculine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and irnir (for masculine nouns that are plural and definite) and in (for neutral nouns that are definite and plural) and, there are a few other plural indefinite nominative forms, but these are the forms that most plural nouns have
- the definite ending for neutral nouns that are singular is ið in Icelandic (and it in Norse)
- the genitive endings are usually s / ar (for masculine singular indefinite nouns) and s (for neutral singular indefinite nouns) and ar (for feminine singular indefinite nouns) and s+ins / ar+ins (for masculine singular definite nouns) and s+ins (for masculine singular neutral nouns) and ar+innar (for feminine singular definite nouns) and a / na / ra (for plural indefinite nouns) and anna (for plural definite nouns) with almost no exceptions, so they follow these patterns almost always
- feminine nouns that have an a in their nominative singular form are spellt with ö in their dative forms, and masculine nouns too, for example, a masculine noun like bani (nominative and singular and indefinite) becomes bönum (dative plural indefinite) and bönunum (dative plural definite)
- the a to ö change is also used in verbs, for example, for the verb að hafa (to have) which has an a after the first letter, the singular form ég hef (I have) becomes við höfum (we have) and it’s usually the form that is used with we that is affected by this change in present tense and in past tense it affects both the form that’s used with we (við höfðum) and the form that’s used with they (þeir höfðu) and, it’s exactly the same in Norse, except for the ö which is usually spellt ǫ in present tense and ó or ǫ in past tense, so one just has to remember that whenever there is a change, it is usually a change from a to ö in Icelandic and from a to some type of o letter in Norse
Icelandic also has three standalone definite articles for singular nouns, which are, hinn for masculine nouns, hin for feminine nouns, and hið for neutral nouns, and, in Norse they are hinn / hin / hitt (?) and inn / in / it or itt, and, they can also mean the other when the normal definite form is used after them, for example, hinn skógur means the forest in nominative, while hinn skógurinn means the other forest in nominative, which would be hinn skóg and hinn skóginn in accusative, as the accusative form for masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) is almost always the nominative form minus the ur!
as a migrant worker in iceland I took 4 levels of icelandic courses for workers but it did not work . I was able to understand some of it but never managed to speak it. I guess the main reason is my coworkers were other foreigners and we would communicate in our own language that was a mix of english icelandic and polish.
Sorry to hear that. Yea, it is tough when you don’t have others to practice the language with consistently. I also found that I needed to try different methods before finding what works for me.
I'm very proud of you for deciding to commit and delve deeper into learning the local lingo, boo! As a polyglot, I am very interested in acquiring as many languages as I can, and I think Icelandic would be both fun and also challenging (in particular when it comes to the proper "accent marks")! Sidenote: Please tell Mr. Siggi that I like both his curriculum anD his delicious skyr! 😉
Thank you so much for the lovely encouragement. Oh, let me know if you decide to learn Icelandic. It’s a fun language. Well, most of the time. 😂
If only he was the same Siggi. 😅
Icelandic is a very easy language, one of the top five easiest languages to learn and pronounce, after Dutch, which is the 2nd easiest to learn language (Dutch is the 2nd easiest, after English, which is the absolute easiest ever in every way) and, Norwegian and Norse, and I am close to an advanced level in Icelandic (upper intermediate level in Icelandic and Norse) after only learning them for a few months, plus I am learning tons of other languages as well, and I shall share some very important info and patterns and grammatical rules as well as pronunciation rules (for Icelandic and Norse) that will make it easy for learners to decline words and conjugate verbs in Icelandic and Norse, and I highly recommend reading them, and then revising them many times regularly to learn them by heart, one at a time or a few at a time, as it will make learning these languages way easier - and, in general, to see fast progress, one must learn as many new words as possible regularly, like hundreds and thousands of new words every week, while constantly revising and rewatching vocab videos with previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times over a longer period of time, and memorizing + analyzing as many lyrics as possible, and using G translate a lot to learn new words, and always watching every video and movie with subs in Icelandic, and it’s even better if one has access to extra resources, and they can all be used 2gether, because, if one only learns a few new words per day, it is akin to passive learning, which can take over 15 years, as it does when one is learning the first language one is made to learn, as most reach a native speaker level in the first language by the time they finish highschool or college, but, if one is actively learning a language, by learning as many hundreds and thousands of words as possible automatically by revising them and seeing them and hearing them many times over a period of time, one can get fluent in the new language or languages in just a few years, and I highly recommend learning at least 35.000 base words automatically, to be truly fluent as most 30+ yo (that read a lot and listen to a lot of music) are in the first language!
I highly recommend learning Icelandic 2gether with Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh as these languages are eight of the prettiest languages ever, as pretty and refined and poetic as English, so they are way too pretty not to learn, and are a must-know for every learner, plus they are the most fun to learn and speak and hear and see, so learning them will also make the learning process real enjoyable - Breton / Cornish (and Manx / Irish / Scottish Gaelic) are also super gorgeous, and also, Slovene and Hungarian and Galician / Latin / Gallo are also very fun, and Slovene has some of the most epic ‘bæd’ words I have ever seen / heard, which sound very poetic!
Most Icelandic words such as the nouns only have like 16 forms (that follow the same patterns associated with each group of nouns) and Icelandic verbs have only three main tenses, and one of them is with the auxiliary verb to have, and the future tense is also with an auxiliary verb + infinitive (ég mun læra = I will learn) which are super easy to learn, plus 2 subjunctive cases that have most forms that are the same as the normal present tense and past tense forms, and each group of nouns / verbs etc have the exact same word endings in Icelandic, so once one learns the patterns and the word endings associated with each group of nouns or verbs or adjectives, one can decline and conjugate almost any word naturally, as there aren’t many exceptions, like,, I can remember all the declensions and conjugations of a word after seeing them once or twice, as I know the base word and the typical endings associated with each group of words automatically, and when I come across nouns or verbs etc that do not follow the same patterns, I add them to a list and I revise those more...
For example...
- masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) always have inn at the end in nominative and accusative when they are definite and singular as inn means the for masculine nouns
- the plural forms of nouns in dative are always um (indefinite) and unum (definite) for all nouns with no exceptions (at least, I haven’t seen any exceptions yet, and these two are also the same in Norse)
- the definite singular forms for feminine nouns are always in (for nominative definite singular nouns that are feminine) and ina or ana or una (in accusative) and it is like that for all feminine singular nouns
- the dative singular definite forms are usually inum (for masculine nouns and for neutral nouns that are definite and singular) and inni or unni or anni (for feminine nouns) and sometimes the dative singular ending is also num for masculine and possibly neutral nouns tho it is very rare, so masculine and neutral nouns usually have the definite form inum
- the indefinite form is usually i for both masculine and neutral nouns that are singular and indefinite, so the definite form is basically the indefinite form + num
- the plural forms in nominative are usually ur / ir (for feminine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and urnar / irnar (for plural definite nouns that are feminine, so the definite forms are basically the indefinite forms + nar, nar being the typical feminine ending for nouns that are plural and definite) and ir (for masculine nouns that are plural and indefinite) and irnir (for masculine nouns that are plural and definite) and in (for neutral nouns that are definite and plural) and, there are a few other plural indefinite nominative forms, but these are the forms that most plural nouns have
- the definite ending for neutral nouns that are singular is ið in Icelandic (and it in Norse)
- the genitive endings are usually s / ar (for masculine singular indefinite nouns) and s (for neutral singular indefinite nouns) and ar (for feminine singular indefinite nouns) and s+ins / ar+ins (for masculine singular definite nouns) and s+ins (for masculine singular neutral nouns) and ar+innar (for feminine singular definite nouns) and a / na / ra (for plural indefinite nouns) and anna (for plural definite nouns) with almost no exceptions, so they follow these patterns almost always
- feminine nouns that have an a in their nominative singular form are spellt with ö in their dative forms, and masculine nouns too, for example, a masculine noun like bani (nominative and singular and indefinite) becomes bönum (dative plural indefinite) and bönunum (dative plural definite)
- the a to ö change is also used in verbs, for example, for the verb að hafa (to have) which has an a after the first letter, the singular form ég hef (I have) becomes við höfum (we have) and it’s usually the form that is used with we that is affected by this change in present tense and in past tense it affects both the form that’s used with we (við höfðum) and the form that’s used with they (þeir höfðu) and, it’s exactly the same in Norse, except for the ö which is usually spellt ǫ in present tense and ó or ǫ in past tense, so one just has to remember that whenever there is a change, it is usually a change from a to ö in Icelandic and from a to some type of o letter in Norse
Icelandic also has three standalone definite articles for singular nouns, which are, hinn for masculine nouns, hin for feminine nouns, and hið for neutral nouns, and, in Norse they are hinn / hin / hitt (?) and inn / in / it or itt, and, they can also mean the other when the normal definite form is used after them, for example, hinn skógur means the forest in nominative, while hinn skógurinn means the other forest in nominative, which would be hinn skóg and hinn skóginn in accusative, as the accusative form for masculine nouns that end in ur (or r in Norse) is almost always the nominative form minus the ur!
Some of the most notable differences between Norse and Icelandic are...
- the R vs UR word ending (for example, vindr vs vindur = wind / veðr vs veður = weather)
- the Norse letters ǫ / ǫ́ / œ / ǿ / ø are spellt with the letter ö in Icelandic (ǫld vs öld = age)
- the definite article it is spellt ið in Icelandic (veðrit vs veðrið = the weather)
- the letters d and t at the end of short words is spellt ð in Icelandic (at vs að = to + that)
- the special Norse letters ą / ę / į / ǫ / ų and the long version of these letters aren’t used in Icelandic (ęsir = gods)
- certain adjective endings are slightly different (likr vs legur = like)
Am so proud of you beautiful sis...
Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hi dear!... Thanks for sharing this special icelandic course... I too have to take more time learning more Icelandic so i will definitely check on his courses.
Hello,
This is really great. Would you make a video of you having a full conversation in Icelandic?
Really interesting. Thanks.
My pleasure 😊
I'm so glad I found your channel. I'm also from NY and I'm hoping to move to Iceland after I get my bachelor's in psychology. Your channel always helps me learn something I can find beneficial and helps me understand more, so thank you for making your social platforms!
Yay, so glad to hear that!! It’s my pleasure to share. 🤗❤️
This feels verrrry insightful and cool and funny hee he! ❤️
So glad to hear that 🤗❤️
I enjoy your channel. Thanks for sharing your language learning journey with us.
I've used Anki too. It's so helpful. And I've found learning prepositions and words in categories is helpful.
Thank you so much!
It’s awesome you have used Anki too and found it helpful. 😊
@@AllThingsIceland I used it when trying to learn Turkish.
You are so dedicated I know you will continue to flourish 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Thank you so much 🤗
Its good to be strict with your self. Tell everyone to correct you, never let almost be good enough for pronunciation.
I am so happy you are going to become independent & 100% Icelandic speaking . Different people learn in different ways. It looks like you have a good teacher there. Best of luck .
Thank you, Blaze!!
Definitely hit a sore spot, need to get my Icelandic in check. 😅
I'm a village life vlogger from Kenya. I just subscribed here
❤😊Thank you for sharing your progress, Jewell's.
My pleasure. Thanks for watching and the lovely comment. 🤗❤️
hello , good on you , sweetie pie , you can do it , good on you😊😊😊😊. you've already passed that hardest first hurdle , you're well on your way to fluency😊😊😊 . hang in there, great share , thank you for sharing🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. p.s. kudos to your instructor , he seems like a great guy.............
Thank you for the lovely encouragement!! 🤗🤗🤗
Good luck!! 🇮🇸
Thanks! 🤗
This is really inspiring ☺️ i’m an american living in serbia and i’ve had the same experience of an up & down journey learning the language 😆 thanks for sharing 👏
So glad to hear that! Best of luck to you on your language learning journey. 🤗❤️
You are doing better than some……Me! Good job! Keep us informed ☮️❤️
Will do 🤗
I know how difficult is to learn a new language but commitment is the key. I believe you will do well. It will be easier for you because you live there and are totally submerged into the culture.
😊
The best way to learn a new language is in the home environment. Best wishes with your learning.
Thank you 😊
Omg, yaaaasss...! Personally - as, like yourself, a native English-speaker - i have got to admit that i find any language which employs ( the *dreaded* ) ´case endings´, as so many indeed seem to, more or less just totally beyond my capabilities, although i have been able to become pretty close to being fluent in French actually, which - like English, *most* of the Scandinavian, and virtually all of the Romance, languages - fortunately does *not* do so 😁. But, so *your* BEING able - to any degree - to ´master´ even just that aspect *alone* of Icelandic is exceedingly admirable and highly commendable, to be sure😄, and you truly *are* apparently quite well advanced it would seem in your overall accomplishments, re: learning and mastering the Icelandic language, so: ¨You GO, gurl¨ ...!! ( Oh and, I love ¨SOS¨ [ : ¨Shiny Object Syndrome¨ ] 😆...! ) I am btw familiar actually with David Walliams, the author of the book you were showing, who is a fellow Brit, and a comedian, who was also for quite sometime a judge, etc, on the show ¨Britain´s Got Talent¨, although the book would, i imagine, have to have been translated into Icelandic from English, if indeed he is the same person of that name, at least...?! ~As always, with much love to you, dear **Jewels** ❤xoxo💖
I've been wondering how you've been doing with your Icelandic! It sounds like we're around the same level, though I got there a completely different way. I might have to use these ideas to work on my own skills, especially since I've just finished with my formal classes and now have to just keep going on my own.
Hey Jewels, great vid (I have A.D.O.S. also; attention deficit…”oh SHINY!”). Could you do an update on this; how impactful was Icelandic Made Easier?
Bestu kveðjur!
💖💖💖
❤️❤️❤️
Hey Dear Jewells ! How’s it all going??? Thinking of you ❤️❤️❤️❤️
The ll is unique. I forget that it's weird, so my friends ask if I'm okay and I get confused until I realize that it sounds odd to someone who hasn't heard it.
😂
Give us an update on how it's going
As a swedish man i wonder if we all scandinavians talked something similar to the icelandic language before. We all come from the vikings except for Finland. But Iceland have been so isolated up there so i guess they have not change mutch. Well i do not know if my swedish ancestors should understand more but i do not understand mutch at all.
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👍👍
😊
You can try to find our fellow Africans who live there and have mastered the language..you can learn from them also
What kind of work do you do in Iceland?
Ég hlakka til að heyra framfarirnar þína! (Something like that LOL) PS I ❤Siggi!
Takk kærlega fyrir og Siggi er frábær! 🤘🏾
as a Norwegian, I can read quite alot of the language, and the rest I can...ballpark😂😂😂
I heard that Icelandic is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn 😳
Já, íslenska er erfitt tungumál. Það er enginn vafi á því. Ég byrjaði að læra íslensku árið 1990 og lærði tungumálið við Háskóla Íslands. Íslenska er fallegt tungumál og ég mun aldrei gleyma því!
Very difficult language!