i'm only about a week or so into my Icelandic studies and am just starting to get an idea of how complex this language is and how much hard work’ll be required for me to reach proficiency. but i just wanted to thank you for these videos. they're an indispensable resource and you explain things both thoroughly and clearly
I know it can look very intimidating at first sight, but in truth, Icelandic is one of the top five languages that are the easiest to learn, after English / Dutch / Norwegian / Norse, and Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh / Breton / Cornish are also very easy to learn, because these are the prettiest languages ever created, so they are the most fun to learn, and the words can be learnt way faster than words from other languages, because pretty words naturally require less repetitions to become part of the permanent memory, so the prettier the word is, the easiest it is to remember it, which makes these languages very easy to learn, and I highly recommend learning them all 2gether, as it’s a lot more fun and more efficient and it can save many years, plus they are way too pretty not to know! Icelandic word endings usually follow the same patterns for each group of nouns / verbs / adjectives etc, so if one knows the word endings very well and the base words automatically, it’s very easy to remember the full declensions and conjugations for each word if one sees them once or twice, like, I can usually remember the full thing after seeing and reading the declensions and conjugations once or twice, plus one will have to see each word many times to get a fully developed automatic mode in the new language or languages, so by the time one gets to a native speaker level, one will have seen the words and their different forms tens to hundreds of times, so one will know them automatically - the most important step is learning the base words, so I highly recommend learning hundreds and thousands of new base words regularly, while also constantly revising previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times, over a longer period of time, and regularly reading the conjugations and declensions of ten verbs and ten nouns and ten adjectives, or five nouns and five verbs and five adjectives per day, as most of them can be found even on wkp, and I recommend starting with the most used verbs and nouns and adjectives like to be / to have / to become etc and forest / school / food etc and cold / hot / warm etc, which is a great strategy! I highly recommend learning all the base words from every vocab video and from every grammar video and from every other video teaching Icelandic and memorizing the lyrics to all the Skáld songs and folk songs etc and always watching every single video and movie with Icelandic subs, if one wants to see progress fast, but one should also know that to fully develop an automatic mode in the new language or languages will take at least a few years of constant and regular éxpòsure to the words and phrases etc, though the language itself can be learnt or memorized in one year if one is learning many new words regularly and constantly revising previously learnt words, and maybe even using flashcards like Anki would be a great way to revise new words, so all these methods should be used 2gether, and any other methods too, if one has any other resources etc, one can use them all 2gether!
It tends to become very easy after learning the first 10.000 to twenty thousand base words, because after that it will be mostly compound words, and compound words can be learnt twice as fast if one knows all the smaller words that the compound word is made of automatically, so the beginning is always the hardest, but it will keep getting easier and easier, so the more thousands of new words one learns automatically, the easier it will get to understand how the new language works and the easier it will feel - I am very close to an advanced level in Icelandic after learning it for a few months, and I am technically upper intermediate level in both Icelandic and Norse at the moment, and I can understand how these languages work very well!
Do you mean whether it should be conjugated as an -aði verb or a -di, -ti, -ði verb? Unfortunately there is no way to know a verb type just by looking at the infinitive. You can look it up in the dictionary, or better yet, if you hear the word in conversation you may be able to identify which type it is.
Relying on rules isn’t a good way to learn languages, and one will never develop an automatic mode in the new language if one doesn’t see and read and hear and revise each word many times over a longer period of time, and, even though it’s good to know the rules as well, to have a general idea of how these things work, one should never rely on rules alone and one should never try to find a shortcut that doesn’t exist, regardless of what language one is learning! I highly recommend focusing mostly on learning the base words, and learning hundreds and thousands of new base words every week, while constantly revising previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times, over a longer period of time, and at the same time, reading the conjugations and declensions of three to five new verbs and nouns and adjectives every day, starting with the most used ones like to be / forest / to have / food / to become / school / cold / warm / good etc, and I highly recommend watching and rewatching every video teaching Icelandic and every vocab video and memorizing all the Skáld song lyrics and folk lyrics etc and always watching every single video and movie with Icelandic subs and using G translate a lot to learn new words that are more advanced etc and maybe even using flashcards like Anki etc, and revising each word at least 30 times during the first year of learning, on different days! I highly recommend learning Icelandic / Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Welsh 2gether, as they are 6 of the prettiest languages ever that are as gorgeous and refined and poetic as English and way too pretty not to know, which is the most fun and most efficient way to learn languages that can save a lot of years and that can make the learning process way more enjoyable, because one naturally needs to see different things after seeing something for a while, especially when it comes to active learning, and one should also know that fully developing an automatic mode in the new language or languages will take at least two or three years or more, regardless of the language, and, this only applies to pretty and easy category 1 and category 2 languages, which are naturally the easiest to learn, even though one can learn the actual words (especially the first ten thousand to twenty thousand words) and understand the actual language in one year if one is actively learning many new words regularly and constantly revising previously learnt words and if one is very consistent!
It tends to become very easy after learning the first 10.000 to twenty thousand base words, because after that it will be mostly compound words, and compound words can be learnt twice as fast if one knows all the smaller words that the compound word is made of automatically, so the beginning is always the hardest, but it will keep getting easier and easier, so the more thousands of new words one learns automatically, the easier it will get to understand how the new language works and the easier it will feel - I am very close to an advanced level in Icelandic after learning it for a few months, and I am technically upper intermediate level in both Icelandic and Norse at the moment, and I can understand how these languages work very well!
Hi! When searching words that start with the letter “Þ þ” The digicoll dictionary does not find any result. For example the ver “þekkja” Is there a way of searching words that start with “þ”? Thanks
I don't believe Digicoll allows you to search the dictionary that way. You can try the Icelandic-Icelandic dictionary at islenskordabok.arnastofnun.is, as it allows you to scroll through words alphabetically.
Generally. The stem vowel can change to A for -di, -ti, and -ði endings, generally when it has the ending eCja, where C is a consonant. Like -eðja, -erja, -egja, -efja, -ekja, -emja, -enja, -etja. But remember these also have a different present tense form than typical -di, -ti, -ði verbs.
@@icelandicforforeigners Could you show me an example of the difference between present tense form of those verbs with vowel change and typical -di, -ti, -ði verbs? Segja and þegja don't seem really untypical to me. Is there any regularity for those 'strange' present tense form? And I noticed that there is "supine" form of verbs in in addition to the infinitive and past particles. I would appreciate it if you could explain exactly what this is. I feel very unfamiliar with the word 'supine'.
You're right, segja and þegja don't have an irregular present tense. Some examples that do are: kveðja, verja, krefja, vekja, lemja, and hvetja. Their second and third-person singular present tense are: kveður, ver, krefur, vekur, lemur, and hvetur. As for the supine, it is the same as the past participle. Technically the supine is used with helping verbs (hafa, geta) while the past participle is used as an adjective for the passive voice, meaning it can inflect. The form given in the dictionary is the supine form :)
Thanks for taking the time of writing and explaining to us these lessons!
Thanks a lot for these lessons! You are a great teacher!
i'm only about a week or so into my Icelandic studies and am just starting to get an idea of how complex this language is and how much hard work’ll be required for me to reach proficiency. but i just wanted to thank you for these videos. they're an indispensable resource and you explain things both thoroughly and clearly
I know it can look very intimidating at first sight, but in truth, Icelandic is one of the top five languages that are the easiest to learn, after English / Dutch / Norwegian / Norse, and Gothic / Faroese / Danish / Welsh / Breton / Cornish are also very easy to learn, because these are the prettiest languages ever created, so they are the most fun to learn, and the words can be learnt way faster than words from other languages, because pretty words naturally require less repetitions to become part of the permanent memory, so the prettier the word is, the easiest it is to remember it, which makes these languages very easy to learn, and I highly recommend learning them all 2gether, as it’s a lot more fun and more efficient and it can save many years, plus they are way too pretty not to know!
Icelandic word endings usually follow the same patterns for each group of nouns / verbs / adjectives etc, so if one knows the word endings very well and the base words automatically, it’s very easy to remember the full declensions and conjugations for each word if one sees them once or twice, like, I can usually remember the full thing after seeing and reading the declensions and conjugations once or twice, plus one will have to see each word many times to get a fully developed automatic mode in the new language or languages, so by the time one gets to a native speaker level, one will have seen the words and their different forms tens to hundreds of times, so one will know them automatically - the most important step is learning the base words, so I highly recommend learning hundreds and thousands of new base words regularly, while also constantly revising previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times, over a longer period of time, and regularly reading the conjugations and declensions of ten verbs and ten nouns and ten adjectives, or five nouns and five verbs and five adjectives per day, as most of them can be found even on wkp, and I recommend starting with the most used verbs and nouns and adjectives like to be / to have / to become etc and forest / school / food etc and cold / hot / warm etc, which is a great strategy!
I highly recommend learning all the base words from every vocab video and from every grammar video and from every other video teaching Icelandic and memorizing the lyrics to all the Skáld songs and folk songs etc and always watching every single video and movie with Icelandic subs, if one wants to see progress fast, but one should also know that to fully develop an automatic mode in the new language or languages will take at least a few years of constant and regular éxpòsure to the words and phrases etc, though the language itself can be learnt or memorized in one year if one is learning many new words regularly and constantly revising previously learnt words, and maybe even using flashcards like Anki would be a great way to revise new words, so all these methods should be used 2gether, and any other methods too, if one has any other resources etc, one can use them all 2gether!
It tends to become very easy after learning the first 10.000 to twenty thousand base words, because after that it will be mostly compound words, and compound words can be learnt twice as fast if one knows all the smaller words that the compound word is made of automatically, so the beginning is always the hardest, but it will keep getting easier and easier, so the more thousands of new words one learns automatically, the easier it will get to understand how the new language works and the easier it will feel - I am very close to an advanced level in Icelandic after learning it for a few months, and I am technically upper intermediate level in both Icelandic and Norse at the moment, and I can understand how these languages work very well!
I love your teaching methods!
Thank you my friend
Yes!! Thank you
Could you do a video on how to predict if a verb stem ends in -i or -a? If it is possible at all.
And this one's been great, as always
Do you mean whether it should be conjugated as an -aði verb or a -di, -ti, -ði verb? Unfortunately there is no way to know a verb type just by looking at the infinitive. You can look it up in the dictionary, or better yet, if you hear the word in conversation you may be able to identify which type it is.
Relying on rules isn’t a good way to learn languages, and one will never develop an automatic mode in the new language if one doesn’t see and read and hear and revise each word many times over a longer period of time, and, even though it’s good to know the rules as well, to have a general idea of how these things work, one should never rely on rules alone and one should never try to find a shortcut that doesn’t exist, regardless of what language one is learning!
I highly recommend focusing mostly on learning the base words, and learning hundreds and thousands of new base words every week, while constantly revising previously learnt words on a regular basis, many times, over a longer period of time, and at the same time, reading the conjugations and declensions of three to five new verbs and nouns and adjectives every day, starting with the most used ones like to be / forest / to have / food / to become / school / cold / warm / good etc, and I highly recommend watching and rewatching every video teaching Icelandic and every vocab video and memorizing all the Skáld song lyrics and folk lyrics etc and always watching every single video and movie with Icelandic subs and using G translate a lot to learn new words that are more advanced etc and maybe even using flashcards like Anki etc, and revising each word at least 30 times during the first year of learning, on different days!
I highly recommend learning Icelandic / Norse / Dutch / Norwegian / Gothic / Welsh 2gether, as they are 6 of the prettiest languages ever that are as gorgeous and refined and poetic as English and way too pretty not to know, which is the most fun and most efficient way to learn languages that can save a lot of years and that can make the learning process way more enjoyable, because one naturally needs to see different things after seeing something for a while, especially when it comes to active learning, and one should also know that fully developing an automatic mode in the new language or languages will take at least two or three years or more, regardless of the language, and, this only applies to pretty and easy category 1 and category 2 languages, which are naturally the easiest to learn, even though one can learn the actual words (especially the first ten thousand to twenty thousand words) and understand the actual language in one year if one is actively learning many new words regularly and constantly revising previously learnt words and if one is very consistent!
It tends to become very easy after learning the first 10.000 to twenty thousand base words, because after that it will be mostly compound words, and compound words can be learnt twice as fast if one knows all the smaller words that the compound word is made of automatically, so the beginning is always the hardest, but it will keep getting easier and easier, so the more thousands of new words one learns automatically, the easier it will get to understand how the new language works and the easier it will feel - I am very close to an advanced level in Icelandic after learning it for a few months, and I am technically upper intermediate level in both Icelandic and Norse at the moment, and I can understand how these languages work very well!
Excelent!
What dictionary (in particular) are you using? Every Icelandic dictionary/app I've checked doesn't have the parenthesis (-di, t).
Try this one: digicoll.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/Search.TEId.html
In some verbs j is with we , you plural and they.
Hi! When searching words that start with the letter “Þ þ” The digicoll dictionary does not find any result. For example the ver “þekkja” Is there a way of searching words that start with “þ”? Thanks
I don't believe Digicoll allows you to search the dictionary that way. You can try the Icelandic-Icelandic dictionary at islenskordabok.arnastofnun.is, as it allows you to scroll through words alphabetically.
Does the endig '-ði' always change the e of stem to a? (like kreja -> krafði, segja -> sagði, þegja -> þagði ...)
Generally. The stem vowel can change to A for -di, -ti, and -ði endings, generally when it has the ending eCja, where C is a consonant. Like -eðja, -erja, -egja, -efja, -ekja, -emja, -enja, -etja. But remember these also have a different present tense form than typical -di, -ti, -ði verbs.
@@icelandicforforeigners Could you show me an example of the difference between present tense form of those verbs with vowel change and typical -di, -ti, -ði verbs? Segja and þegja don't seem really untypical to me. Is there any regularity for those 'strange' present tense form?
And I noticed that there is "supine" form of verbs in in addition to the infinitive and past particles. I would appreciate it if you could explain exactly what this is. I feel very unfamiliar with the word 'supine'.
You're right, segja and þegja don't have an irregular present tense. Some examples that do are: kveðja, verja, krefja, vekja, lemja, and hvetja. Their second and third-person singular present tense are: kveður, ver, krefur, vekur, lemur, and hvetur.
As for the supine, it is the same as the past participle. Technically the supine is used with helping verbs (hafa, geta) while the past participle is used as an adjective for the passive voice, meaning it can inflect. The form given in the dictionary is the supine form :)
but how about tala it becomes talaði? not like tæla as you said become tæladi.
Right! Tæla belongs to this category of verbs. Tala belongs to a different category, called -aði verbs.
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