When something is beautiful, cold, ridiculous, or delicious, Icelandic has a tidy set of ways to say so with feeling. They fall into three groups: wh-exclamatives built on hvað or en ("how lovely!"), the exclamative determiner þvílíkur ("what a…!"), and bare interjections — the little emotion-words like æ, ó, úff that sit entirely outside the sentence. The single most important thing to learn here, and the place English speakers go wrong, is the word order: Icelandic exclamatives keep statement order (subject before verb), unlike the inversion English uses in "how clever you are". This page maps the whole system; the interjection inventory and the wh-exclamative drills live on their own pages.
The big rule: exclamatives use statement order, not question order
Compare the two operations. A question inverts — the verb jumps in front of the subject: Ert þú klár? ("Are you clever?"). An exclamative does not invert — it keeps subject before verb, and the exclamative force comes entirely from the opener (hvað / en) plus the falling, emphatic intonation.
✅ Hvað þú ert klár!
How clever you are! Statement order: subject 'þú' before verb 'ert'.
❌ Hvað ert þú klár!
Incorrect as an exclamation — this is question inversion. It reads as a half-formed question, not an exclamation.
This is the mirror image of the English habit. English inverts for the exclamative ("how clever you are", with "you" before "are" — but reordered from the plain "you are clever"); Icelandic doesn't. The opener does the work, so the rest of the clause stays exactly as it would in a statement.
Type 1: hvað-exclamatives
The most common everyday exclamative opens with hvað ("how"), followed by the clause in plain statement order. Use it with an adjective or adverb you want to amplify.
Hvað það er kalt í dag!
How cold it is today! 'hvað' + statement order 'það er kalt'.
Hvað þetta er fallegt!
How beautiful this is! Note 'fallegt' is neuter to agree with neuter 'þetta'.
Hvað þú syngur vel!
How well you sing! With an adverb ('vel'), same statement order.
Type 2: en-exclamatives
En ("how / what") opens a punchier, more compact exclamative — often without a full clause, just en + a neuter adjective + noun or en + neuter adjective. The adjective is in the neuter form here as the default exclamative shape.
En fallegt veður!
What lovely weather! 'en' + neuter adjective 'fallegt' + 'veður' (which is itself neuter).
En gaman!
How fun! / What fun! 'en' + the neuter 'gaman' — a complete exclamation on its own.
En leiðinlegt!
How boring/annoying! 'en' + neuter adjective, no noun needed.
English speakers often miss this en + neuter-adjective pattern entirely, because there's no neat English equivalent — "how" doesn't combine with a bare adjective the same way. Reach for en when you want a short, exclaimed reaction.
Type 3: þvílíkur — "what a…!"
For "what a (day/luck/idiot)!", Icelandic uses the determiner þvílíkur, which agrees in gender, number, and case with its noun — just like an adjective. So it's þvílíkur dagur (masc.), þvílík heppni (fem.), þvílíkt veður (neut.).
| Gender of noun | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | þvílíkur | þvílíkur dagur! (what a day!) |
| feminine | þvílík | þvílík heppni! (what luck!) |
| neuter | þvílíkt | þvílíkt rugl! (what nonsense!) |
| plural | þvílíkir/-ar/- | þvílíkir hálfvitar! (what idiots!) |
Þvílíkur dagur!
What a day! Masculine 'dagur' → masculine 'þvílíkur'.
Þvílík heppni!
What luck! Feminine 'heppni' → feminine 'þvílík'.
Getting the agreement wrong (þvílíkur heppni) is the standard error here — it's the same gender cascade that bedevils adjectives, just applied to a determiner.
Type 4: bare interjections
Outside the clause entirely sit the interjections — single emotion-words that aren't grammatically wired into the sentence at all. They're free particles: you can drop one in front of any clause, or use it alone. The range is wide — pain, surprise, delight, dismay, disgust — and many are just a short vowel-word.
Æ, nei!
Oh no! 'Æ' is the all-purpose dismay/sympathy interjection — here, dismay.
Vá, hvað þetta er flott!
Wow, how cool this is! 'Vá' (wow) sits outside, then a normal hvað-exclamative follows.
Úff, ég er búinn að borða of mikið.
Ugh, I've eaten too much. 'Úff' (relief/exasperation) prefaces a plain statement.
Notice that the interjection doesn't disturb the clause behind it: Vá is followed by a perfectly normal Hvað þetta er flott!, and Úff by a normal statement. Because they live outside the V2 clause, they never count as the "first element" for word-order purposes. The full inventory — when to use æ, oj, namm, jæja, sko and the rest — is on the interjections page.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hvað ert þú klár!
Incorrect — question inversion used for an exclamation.
✅ Hvað þú ert klár!
How clever you are! Statement order after 'hvað'.
❌ Hvað það kalt er!
Incorrect — the verb must stay in its statement slot, right after the subject.
✅ Hvað það er kalt!
How cold it is! 'það er kalt', not 'það kalt er'.
❌ En fallegur veður!
Incorrect — 'veður' is neuter, so the exclamative adjective must be 'fallegt'.
✅ En fallegt veður!
What lovely weather! Neuter adjective for neuter 'veður'.
❌ Þvílíkur heppni!
Incorrect — 'heppni' is feminine, so 'þvílíkur' must be 'þvílík'.
✅ Þvílík heppni!
What luck! Feminine agreement.
❌ Vá, kemur hann á morgun!
Incorrect if meant as a statement — treating 'vá' as the first slot triggers a false inversion.
✅ Vá, hann kemur á morgun!
Wow, he's coming tomorrow! The interjection is outside; the clause keeps normal order.
Key Takeaways
- Icelandic exclamatives come in four shapes: hvað-clauses, en + neuter adjective, the agreeing determiner þvílíkur, and bare interjections.
- The headline rule: exclamatives keep statement order (subject before verb) — the exact opposite of question inversion. Hvað þú ert klár!, never Hvað ert þú klár!
- En combines with a bare neuter adjective (En gaman! En leiðinlegt!) — a pattern with no clean English parallel.
- Þvílíkur agrees in gender/number/case like an adjective: þvílíkur dagur, þvílík heppni, þvílíkt rugl.
- Interjections are free particles outside the clause; they never cause inversion.
Now practice Icelandic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Interjections and Emotive ParticlesA2 — The Icelandic interjection inventory — æ (the all-purpose dismay/sympathy word), vá, oj, úps, nú?, ha?, jæja, sko, namm and more — with glosses, register, and when each one fits.
- Asking Questions: Inversion and IntonationA1 — The two ways Icelandic builds questions — yes/no questions by putting the finite verb first, and wh-questions by fronting a question word — with no 'do'-support and the spoken clitic forms ertu, áttu, viltu.