hinn: 'the other' and the Free-Standing Article

The little word hinn is one of the most useful things to understand in intermediate Icelandic, because it does two jobs that look unrelated but share a history. In its everyday job it is the determiner "the other" — hinn maðurinn "the other man," hinir "the others." In its literary job it is a free-standing definite article — hinn mikli sigur "the great victory," hið nýja Ísland "the new Iceland" — a separate word for "the," distinct from the suffixed article you normally use, and reserved for elevated register. And here's the payoff that ties them together: this free-standing hinn is the historical source of the modern suffixed article, which is why the suffix looks the way it does (-inn / -in / -ið). Once you see that, the whole definite system clicks into place. (The everyday suffixed article — hesturinn, borgin, barnið — is covered on the definite article overview; the interaction of definite nouns with adjectives is on its own page. Here we isolate hinn in both of its roles, and the spelling trap between them.)

hinn is fully declined

Before either job, note that hinn inflects for gender, number, and case like any strong determiner. The nominative singular is hinn (m.) / hin (f.) / hitt or hið (n.) — and that neuter split, hitt vs hið, is not free variation; it tracks the two meanings, as we'll see. Here is the core paradigm (the form that means "the other"):

Role 1: hinn = "the other"

The everyday job. hinn means "the other" — the second of two, the remaining one(s). It pairs naturally with annar "one / the one (of two)": annar bíllinn... hinn bíllinn "one of the cars... the other car." In the plural, hinir / hinar / hin means "the others," and it can even stand alone as a pronoun: hinir tóku þátt "the others took part."

A point English does not prepare you for: when hinn means "the other" before a noun, the noun usually still carries its own suffixed article. So "the other man" is hinn maðurinn — hinn ("the other") plus maður with the suffixed -inn on top. The two definiteness markers stack, because both contribute: hinn picks out which one (the other), and the suffix marks the noun definite. English "the other man" has a single "the," so learners drop the suffix and produce *hinn maður, which sounds incomplete.

Role 2: hinn = the free-standing literary article

Now the second life. hinn is also a free-standing definite article — an actual separate word for "the" — but it is literary, formal, or emphatic, not the everyday choice. In this role it sits before a weak adjective, and the noun stays bare (no suffix): hinn mikli sigur "the great victory," hið nýja Ísland "the new Iceland." Compare the two ways to say "the great victory":

In the literary pattern the adjective is weak (mikli, nýja, stóri) just as in the everyday pattern — the weak adjective is constant — but the article is the separate word hinn placed in front, and the noun is bare (sigur, not sigurinn; Ísland, not Íslandið). You do not combine the free article with the suffix: *hinn mikli sigurinn is wrong. This is the route Icelandic reserves for titles, poetry, set phrases, and heightened prose.

The everyday alternative is what you actually say in conversation:

The orthography split: hitt vs hið

This is the spelling trap the two roles create, and it is meaningful, not arbitrary. The neuter singular form differs by job:

• As "the other" (Role 1), the neuter is hitt — with a double t: hitt barnið "the other child," hitt húsið "the other house."
• As the literary article (Role 2), the neuter is hið — with an eth (ð): hið nýja Ísland "the new Iceland," hið fagra land "the fair land."

So the same lemma splits its neuter into hitt (double-t, "the other") and hið (eth, the literary "the"). Writing *hið barnið for "the other child," or *hitt nýja Ísland for the literary phrase, is a real spelling error that signals you've confused the two roles. Anchor it: t-t for "the oTher," eth for the arTicle (the elevated, written one carries the elegant ð).

Both nouns above are neuter (hús "house," foreldri "parent"), so "the other [one]" takes hitt — the literary hið would be wrong there. Conversely, hið háa Alþingi is the elevated free-article construction, where only hið is right.

Why this matters: hinn is the source of the suffixed article

Here is the insight that makes the whole definite-article system finally make sense. The modern Icelandic suffixed article — -inn (m.), -in (f.), -ið (n.) — is historically the word hinn, fused onto the end of the noun. In Old Norse, the free-standing demonstrative/article (h)inn could either stand before the noun (inn maðr) or, increasingly, cliticise onto the back of it (maðr-inn), and over time the back-attached version became the default everyday article while the free-standing one retreated into literary register. That is why:

• the suffix -inn / -in / -ið looks like hinn / hin / hið with the h- worn off;
• the everyday article is suffixed (the version that won) while hinn in front survives as the literary alternative (the version that lost ground);
• you must not use both at once (*hinn maðurinn as "the man") — that would be marking the article twice with what is etymologically the same word.

So hinn and -inn are not two coincidentally similar words; they are the same morpheme at two stages of one historical process. Seeing that, you understand why the suffixed article has exactly the shape it does, why the literary hinn feels archaic, and why the two can't co-occur. (For the everyday suffixed paradigm in full, see the definite article overview; for register, the literary/archaic page.)

Common Mistakes

Hinn ("the other") stacks on top of the suffixed article; don't drop the suffix. "The other phone" = hinn síminn, not *hinn sími.

Keep the suffixed article on every "the other" noun, and use annar… hinn for "one… the other."

In the literary free-article role the neuter is hið (with ð). Hitt (double t) is only "the other (one)."

You can't use hinn and the suffix -inn together — they're etymologically the same article. Pick one route.

Don't reach for hinn as an everyday "the." Before a bare noun it means "the other"; for plain "the man," the suffixed manninn alone is enough.

Key Takeaways

• hinn is fully declined (hinn / hin / hitt, plural hinir / hinar / hin) and does two jobs.
• Role 1 — "the other": hinn maðurinn, hin systirin, plural hinir "the others." It pairs with annar ("one… the other") and normally keeps the noun's suffixed article.
• Role 2 — literary free-standing article: hinn mikli sigur, hið nýja Ísland — a separate word for "the," with a weak adjective and a bare noun, used in literary/formal/poetic register only. Never combine it with the suffix (*hinn mikli sigurinn).
• Orthography split: neuter is hitt (double t) for "the other," but hið (eth ð) for the literary article — a meaningful spelling difference.
• The free-standing hinn is the historical source of the suffixed article -inn / -in / -ið, which is why the suffix has that shape and why the two can't co-occur.