Describing people and things is where Icelandic adjectives earn their keep — and where English speakers feel the agreement burden most, because every descriptive word has to match the gender, number, and case of what it describes. This page is about using descriptions in real sentences: what someone looks like, what an object is like, and the one idiom that catches everyone — that "having" a physical feature (blue eyes, a beard) is built with vera með + accusative, not the dative you might expect. (For the colour terms themselves and how they decline, see the dedicated colour-terms page; here we put them to work.) Every noun below is tagged for gender (kk, kvk, hk).
Predicate vs attributive: where the adjective sits
An adjective can stand in two positions, and Icelandic treats them differently:
- Predicate — after vera (to be): Hann er hár (He is tall). The adjective uses the strong form and agrees with the subject.
- Attributive — in front of the noun: Hár maður (a tall man). The adjective sits inside the noun phrase and agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case.
Both positions require agreement; the difference is what the adjective agrees with and which set of endings it pulls.
Hann er hár og dökkhærður.
He is tall and dark-haired. Predicate adjectives after 'vera' — both agree with the masculine subject 'hann'.
Hún er lítil og ljóshærð.
She is short and fair-haired. The same adjectives shift to the feminine: 'lítil', 'ljóshærð'.
Það var lítil ljóshærð stúlka í strætó.
There was a little fair-haired girl on the bus. Attributive: 'lítil ljóshærð' both agree with 'stúlka' (kvk, nominative).
The agreement burden in three genders
Here is why agreement is the central difficulty. A single English adjective like "good" or "tall" splits into three nominative forms depending on the noun's gender — and that's before you add case and number.
| English | kk (maður) | kvk (kona) | hk (barn) |
|---|---|---|---|
| tall / high | hár | há | hátt |
| good / kind | góður | góð | gott |
| small | lítill | lítil | lítið |
| new | nýr | ný | nýtt |
| beautiful | fallegur | falleg | fallegt |
Þetta er fallegt hús með stórum garði.
That's a beautiful house with a big garden. 'fallegt' is the neuter form agreeing with 'hús' (hk).
Describing things: size, shape, quality
For objects, the workhorse adjectives are pairs of opposites. Learn them in pairs and as gendered triples:
| kk | kvk | hk | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| stór | stór | stórt | big |
| lítill | lítil | lítið | small |
| nýr | ný | nýtt | new |
| gamall | gömul | gamalt | old |
| langur | löng | langt | long |
| þungur | þung | þungt | heavy |
| fallegur | falleg | fallegt | beautiful |
| ljótur | ljót | ljótt | ugly |
Watch gamall (old): the feminine is gömul with a vowel shift (an u-umlaut: a → ö before the u ending). This kind of stem change is common, which is another reason to memorize the triple rather than guess.
Bíllinn er gamall en mótorinn er nýr.
The car is old but the engine is new. Both predicate adjectives are masculine: 'gamall', 'nýr'.
Þetta er of þungt, ég get ekki lyft því.
This is too heavy, I can't lift it. 'þungt' is neuter, agreeing with the unspecified 'þetta' (this thing).
Describing people: appearance and character
Appearance often uses -hærður ("-haired") and -eygður ("-eyed") compounds, plus a small set of character adjectives:
| Icelandic (kk / kvk) | English |
|---|---|
| hár / há | tall |
| lágvaxinn / lágvaxin | short (in stature) |
| dökkhærður / dökkhærð | dark-haired |
| ljóshærður / ljóshærð | fair-haired / blond |
| rauðhærður / rauðhærð | red-haired |
| góður / góð | good / kind |
| skemmtilegur / skemmtileg | fun / nice (of a person) |
| klár / klár | clever / smart |
Systir mín er rauðhærð og ofboðslega klár.
My sister is red-haired and incredibly clever. Feminine predicate forms: 'rauðhærð', 'klár'.
Hann er rosalega góður strákur.
He's a really kind boy. 'góður' agrees with 'strákur' (kk); 'rosalega' is a common intensifier ('really').
The feature idiom: "vera með + accusative" — to have a feature
This is the insight English speakers most need. To describe a feature someone has — blue eyes, a beard, long hair — Icelandic does not use the verb hafa ("to have"). It uses vera með ("to be with") and, crucially, the thing you "have" goes in the accusative.
This is where the idiom gets subtle. The preposition með normally governs the dative in its comitative sense — "with someone/something accompanying you" (ég kom með vini, I came with a friend). But in the have-a-feature sense, vera með takes the accusative. The accusative is the tell that you mean possessing/displaying a feature rather than being accompanied by something.
| Icelandic | English | Feature (gender → acc) |
|---|---|---|
| vera með blá augu | to have blue eyes | augu (hk pl) → blá augu |
| vera með skegg | to have a beard | skegg (hk) → skegg |
| vera með sítt hár | to have long hair | hár (hk) → sítt hár |
| vera með gleraugu | to wear glasses | gleraugu (hk pl) → gleraugu |
Hún er með stór blá augu.
She has big blue eyes. 'vera með' + accusative: 'stór blá augu' (augu is hk plural).
Maðurinn með skeggið er pabbi minn.
The man with the beard is my dad. As an attributive phrase: 'með skeggið' — 'skegg' (hk) in the accusative with the article.
Strákurinn er með sítt rautt hár og freknur.
The boy has long red hair and freckles. 'er með' + accusative throughout: 'sítt rautt hár'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún er hár.
Incorrect — the adjective must agree with the feminine subject; it can't stay masculine.
✅ Hún er há.
She is tall. 'há' is the feminine form agreeing with 'hún'.
❌ Ein stór hús.
Incorrect — 'stór' isn't agreeing with the neuter noun 'hús'.
✅ Eitt stórt hús.
One big house. Neuter agreement: 'eitt stórt hús'.
❌ Hún hefur blá augu.
Incorrect — using 'hafa' for a feature. Icelandic describes features with 'vera með'.
✅ Hún er með blá augu.
She has blue eyes. 'vera með' + accusative is the feature idiom.
❌ Hann er með bláum augum.
Incorrect — that's the dative; the feature idiom 'vera með' takes the accusative.
✅ Hann er með blá augu.
He has blue eyes. Accusative 'blá augu', not dative.
❌ gamal kona
Incorrect — the feminine of 'gamall' is 'gömul' (with u-umlaut), not 'gamal'.
✅ gömul kona
An old woman. 'gömul' is the correct feminine form.
Key Takeaways
- Every adjective agrees in gender, number, and case — in both the predicate (Hann er hár) and attributive (hár maður) positions. Learn each adjective as a gendered triple: góður / góð / gott.
- Watch stem changes like gamall → gömul (u-umlaut) — guessing fails, so memorize the triple.
- Describe objects with opposite pairs: stór / lítill, nýr / gamall, fallegur / ljótur.
- Describe people's hair and eyes with -hærður / -eygður compounds, agreeing for gender.
- "To have" a feature is vera með + accusative — vera með blá augu, vera með skegg — never hafa, and never the dative.
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