hver, hvert, sérhver: 'each', 'every', 'which' | Icelandic Grammar

The word hver wears two hats. As an interrogative pronoun it means "who?" or "which one?" — Hver er þetta? "Who is that?" That use belongs to pronouns/interrogative. This page is about hver as a determiner: the word that sits in front of a noun and means "each / every / which," distributing over the members of a set one at a time — hver maður "each man," hvert barn "each child." We also cover its reinforced cousins (sérhver "each and every," hver einasti "every single," annar hver "every other"). And we tackle the distinction English speakers most often miss: Icelandic systematically separates hver (one of many) from hvor (one of two). The two words differ by a single vowel and a whole meaning.

hver as a distributive determiner: "each / every"

Placed before a singular noun, hver means "each" or "every," picking out the members of a set individually: hver maður "each/every man," hvert hús "every house," hver dagur "every day." The crucial structural fact is that hver takes a singular noun and a singular verb, even though it ranges over a whole group — exactly like English each, not like all.

hver is fully declined for gender and case. The neuter is hvert (note the -t), and it agrees with its noun like any adjective-type word.

Case	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nom.	hver	hver	hvert
Acc.	hvern	hverja	hvert
Dat.	hverjum	hverri	hverju
Gen.	hvers	hverrar	hvers

Hver maður ber ábyrgð á sjálfum sér.

Each man is responsible for himself. (hver + singular noun + singular verb)

Hvert barn fékk eina blöðru.

Each child got one balloon. (neuter hvert with barn)

Hún hringir í mig á hverjum degi.

She calls me every day. (dative hverjum degi after á — 'every day')

Note that last one: the extremely common time phrase "every day" is á hverjum degi (dative), and "every morning / every year" follow the same pattern — á hverjum morgni, á hverju ári. Learn these as set expressions.

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hver / hvert distributes over a singular noun and takes a singular verb — like English each / every, never like all. For the "all of them together" reading, Icelandic uses allir with a plural (see determiners/quantifiers-all).

"every" = each-by-each (hver), or all-together (allir)?

English every is ambiguous in a way Icelandic forces you to resolve. "Every student passed" can be read distributively (each one, individually) or collectively (the whole set). Icelandic uses hver for the genuinely distributive, one-at-a-time sense and allir (plural "all") for the collective sense. If you can paraphrase with "all of them," reach for allir + plural; if you mean "each separate one," reach for hver + singular.

Allir nemendur stóðust prófið.

All the students passed the exam. (collective 'all' → allir + plural)

Hver nemandi fékk eigin verkefni.

Each student got their own assignment. (distributive 'each' → hver + singular)

The contrast is real and meaningful: allir says nothing about individuals, only the totality; hver zooms in on members one by one. When in doubt, ask whether you mean "the group" (allir) or "each member" (hver).

sérhver and hver einasti — reinforced "every"

Two stronger forms intensify the distributive idea. sérhver ("each and every," "every single") is a compound of sér- + hver, fully declined like hver, and slightly more emphatic and formal than plain hver. hver einasti ("every single," literally "each very-most") adds the superlative einasti for extra force and is common in speech.

Sérhver borgari hefur þessi réttindi.

Each and every citizen has these rights. (sérhver — emphatic, leans formal)

Ég man hvert einasta orð sem hann sagði.

I remember every single word he said. (hver einasti, neuter hvert einasta — intensified)

Hún mætir á hverja einustu æfingu.

She shows up to every single practice. (feminine acc. hverja einustu)

Both einasti and the noun stay in step with hver for gender and case — hvert einasta orð (neuter), hverja einustu æfingu (feminine accusative). They are a matched set.

annar hver — "every other"

The frame annar hver means "every other / every second one" — annan hvern dag "every other day," aðra hverja viku "every other week." Both annar and hver decline and agree with the noun. This is a fixed, very useful idiom for alternation.

Ég fer í ræktina annan hvern dag.

I go to the gym every other day. (annan hvern dag — masc. acc.)

Við hittumst aðra hverja viku.

We meet every other week. (aðra hverja viku — fem. acc.)

hver (many) vs hvor (TWO) — the split English hides

This is the distinction to slow down for. When the set has more than two members, you use hver. When the set has exactly two, you must switch to hvor — a different word, declined differently, meaning "each / which of the two." English collapses both into which and each, so English speakers reach for hver across the board and get hvor wrong constantly.

hver bíll — "which car" (of several) / "each car"
hvor bíllinn — "which of the two cars"

So if a friend points at two cars in a lot and asks which is yours, the question is Hvor bíllinn er þinn? — hvor, because there are exactly two. With a whole car park of options, it would be Hver bíllinn? The neuter forms mirror the split too: hvert (of many) vs hvort (of two).

Set size	"which / each"	neuter
more than two	hver	hvert
exactly two	hvor	hvort

Hvor bíllinn er þinn — sá rauði eða sá blái?

Which of the two cars is yours — the red one or the blue one? (exactly two → hvor)

Hvor ykkar á að fara fyrst?

Which of you two should go first? (hvor of two people)

Sitt í hvora áttina.

Each in a (different) one of the two directions. (hvora — fem. acc. of hvor, set of two)

The same one-vowel split runs through the whole pair: hver vs hvor, neuter hvert vs hvort, accusative hvern vs hvorn. Mishearing or misspelling one for the other changes "of many" into "of two." (For a deeper drill on the contrast, see choosing/hver-vs-hvor.)

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Count the set. Two → hvor / hvort. More than two → hver / hvert. English says "which/each" for both, so the trap is invisible until you train yourself to ask "how many am I choosing among?"

Determiner hver vs interrogative hver — the overlap

Because the same word hver is also the question word "who / which?", a sentence-initial hver can be either. Structure disambiguates: as a question word it stands at the front of a question, often alone or with a verb right after (Hver kemur? "Who's coming?"); as a determiner it sits in front of a noun and distributes (Hver maður deyr "Every man dies"). When hver directly precedes a noun and the sentence is a statement, read it as the determiner "each/every." (The full interrogative paradigm lives at pronouns/interrogative.)

Hver á þessa tösku?

Who owns this bag? (interrogative pronoun — hver stands alone, it's a question)

Hver einstaklingur skiptir máli.

Every individual matters. (determiner — hver before a noun, a statement)

Common Mistakes

❌ Hver bíllinn er þinn? (pointing at two cars)

Wrong word for a set of two — with exactly two it's hvor, not hver.

✅ Hvor bíllinn er þinn?

Which of the two cars is yours? (hvor for a two-way choice)

The number-one error: using hver where the set has exactly two members. Two → hvor. Train the reflex to count.

❌ Hver nemendur fengu verðlaun.

Mismatch — hver takes a singular noun and verb, not a plural.

✅ Hver nemandi fékk verðlaun.

Each student got a prize. (hver + singular noun + singular verb)

hver distributes one at a time, so the noun and verb stay singular. If you want a plural, you want allir ("all"), not hver.

❌ Á hverjum dag.

Wrong case — 'every day' is dative: á hverjum degi, not the bare dag.

✅ Á hverjum degi.

Every day. (fixed dative phrase: á hverjum degi)

The time phrase "every day" is in the dative (á hverjum degi); the noun dagur shifts to degi. Learn these whole.

❌ Hvert ykkar tveggja vill fara? (meaning which of you two)

Two people → hvort, not hvert.

✅ Hvort ykkar vill fara?

Which of you two wants to go? (neuter hvort for a set of two)

The neuter mirrors the same split: hvert of many, hvort of two. One vowel, opposite set sizes.

❌ Hver maður deyja.

Verb agreement off — hver takes a singular verb: deyr, not the plural/infinitive.

✅ Hver maður deyr.

Every man dies. (singular verb agreeing with the distributive singular subject)

Key Takeaways

hver / hvert is the distributive determiner "each / every," taking a singular noun and verb (hver maður deyr).
For "all together," use allir + plural, not hver; for "each individual," use hver.
sérhver = "each and every" (emphatic, formal-leaning); hver einasti = "every single"; annar hver = "every other" (annan hvern dag).
The big split: hver (one of many) vs hvor (one of exactly two); neuter hvert vs hvort. English hides this — count the set every time.
The same word hver is also the interrogative "who/which?"; structure tells them apart — a determiner sits before a noun, the interrogative heads a question.

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