Phone Numbers, Addresses, and Codes | Icelandic Grammar

You learned the numbers; this page is about using them — reading a phone number to a taxi driver, giving your address, saying a date, naming a price. Each of these has its own spoken convention, and one of them hides a real grammar task: Icelandic addresses use á + the dative of the street name, and the street name inflects (Laugavegur → Laugavegi). Below are the reading conventions for each kind of number, plus the one number fact that never goes away — 1, 2, 3, 4 decline for gender wherever they appear.

Phone numbers: read in pairs

Icelandic phone numbers have seven digits, and they are read in pairs from the front, with a single leftover digit at the start read on its own (or the first three grouped, then two and two). The most common rhythm is 3–2–2 or digit + 2 + 2 + 2 depending on the number. Crucially, you read the pair as a single number: 45 is fjörutíu og fimm, not "four, five."

Síminn minn er fimm sex sjö — tólf — þrjátíu og fjögur.

My number is 567 12 34. Read as groups: fimm sex sjö, tólf, þrjátíu og fjögur — the pairs become whole numbers.

Hvað er símanúmerið hjá þér?

What's your phone number? símanúmer (hk) = phone number; hjá þér = 'with you', i.e. yours.

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Phone numbers are read in pairs, and each pair is one number: 34 = þrjátíu og fjögur, not "three four". This is the opposite of the English digit-by-digit habit and the thing learners most often slip on.

Addresses: "á + dative", and the street name inflects

This is the grammar payload of the page. To say where you live, you use búa á + the dative of the street, followed by the bare house number in the nominative: Ég bý á Laugavegi 5. The street name Laugavegur (kk) becomes Laugavegi in the dative — it is a real noun and it declines. The number "5" is just read as fimm and does not inflect.

Street (nominative)	Gender	Address form (á + dative)
Laugavegur	kk	á Laugavegi
Hverfisgata	kvk	á Hverfisgötu
Skólavörðustígur	kk	á Skólavörðustíg
Bankastræti	hk	á Bankastræti

Most streets take á, the same preposition Icelandic uses for open, surface-like places. A handful of named neighbourhoods and some streets take í instead, but for the typical "I live on X street" the answer is á + dative. Whether a given address takes í or á is partly lexicalised — the same place-assignment lottery you meet with towns — so listen and copy.

Ég bý á Laugavegi 5.

I live at Laugavegur 5. á + dative Laugavegi; the house number (5) stays bare.

Hún býr á Hverfisgötu 22.

She lives at Hverfisgata 22. Hverfisgata (kvk) → dative Hverfisgötu.

Hvar áttu heima? — Á Skólavörðustíg.

Where do you live? — On Skólavörðustígur. 'eiga heima' = to live/reside; same á + dative.

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Addresses use á + the DATIVE of the street name, with the house number left bare: á Laugavegi 5, á Hverfisgötu 22. The street is a real noun and inflects (Laugavegur → Laugavegi); the number does not. This is a declension task, not just vocabulary.

Dates: ordinals + "annar júní"

Dates combine an ordinal with the month. "The second of June" is annar júní — note annar ("second"), one of the irregular low ordinals. The month names are not capitalised in Icelandic. To say "on" a date, the ordinal goes into a case set by the construction, but for simply naming the date the nominative ordinal is what you'll hear.

Í dag er annar júní.

Today is the second of June. annar (2nd, irregular) + month name júní, lowercase.

Afmælið mitt er þrettánda mars.

My birthday is the thirteenth of March. þrettándi → þrettánda; months stay lowercase.

Fundurinn er fimmta september.

The meeting is the fifth of September. fimmti → fimmta + september.

To read a year, Icelandic groups it like English does — hundreds, not thousands: nítján hundruð fjörutíu og fimm for 1945 (literally "nineteen hundred forty-five"). The word árið ("the year") often introduces it.

Hún fæddist árið nítján hundruð sextíu og sex.

She was born in 1966. árið + 'nineteen hundred sixty-six' — grouped by hundreds, like English.

Quantities: kíló, lítri, and the half

Shopping and recipes need quantities. kíló (hk) and lítri (kk) are the workhorses; "half" is hálfur (and it agrees in gender: hálfur lítri kk, hálft kíló hk). The thing measured usually follows in the bare form or with af + dative for liquids.

Ég ætla að fá tvö kíló af kartöflum.

I'll have two kilos of potatoes. kíló (hk) → tvö; af + dative kartöflum.

Hálfur lítri af mjólk, takk.

Half a litre of milk, please. hálfur agrees with lítri (kk); af + dative mjólk.

Percentages and prices

A percentage is prósent (hk, indeclinable): tuttugu prósent ("twenty percent"). Prices end in krónur (kvk pl), and "with the discount" is með afslætti (með + dative of afsláttur).

Það er tuttugu prósent afsláttur af öllu.

There's a twenty percent discount on everything. prósent stays unchanged; afsláttur af + dative öllu.

Þetta kostar fimm þúsund krónur, eða fjögur þúsund með afslætti.

This costs five thousand krónur, or four thousand with the discount. með afslætti = með + dative.

The number that never stops declining: 1–4

Wherever a number lands — a price, a quantity, a phone pair — einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir (1, 2, 3, 4) agree with the gender of what they count. This is the one numeral fact you can never switch off. "Two books" is tvær bækur (kvk), "three men" is þrír menn (kk), "four houses" is fjögur hús (hk).

Number	kk	kvk	hk
1	einn	ein	eitt
2	tveir	tvær	tvö
3	þrír	þrjár	þrjú
4	fjórir	fjórar	fjögur

Ég keypti tvær bækur og þrjú epli.

I bought two books and three apples. tvær (kvk, bækur) vs þrjú (hk, epli) — the same '2 and 3' agree differently.

Það voru þrír menn í röðinni.

There were three men in the queue. þrír (kk) for menn.

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Only 1–4 decline; from 5 (fimm) up, numerals are invariable. So you only have to worry about agreement in the low counts — but you have to worry about it everywhere: prices, quantities, dates, phone pairs.

The kennitala

Every resident has a kennitala (kvk) — a ten-digit ID number written DDMMYY-NNNN (birth date first, then four more digits). It is read like a phone number, in pairs, and you'll be asked for it constantly — at the pharmacy, the bank, online checkouts.

Geturðu gefið mér kennitöluna þína?

Can you give me your kennitala? kennitala (kvk) → accusative kennitöluna; read aloud in pairs like a phone number.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ég bý í Laugavegur 5.

Two errors — wrong preposition (should be á) and the street isn't in the dative.

✅ Ég bý á Laugavegi 5.

I live at Laugavegur 5. á + dative Laugavegi.

❌ Ég bý á Hverfisgata 22.

Incorrect — the street name must take the dative: Hverfisgata → Hverfisgötu.

✅ Ég bý á Hverfisgötu 22.

I live at Hverfisgata 22. The street inflects.

❌ Síminn minn er fimm, sex, sjö, einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir.

Stilted — reading digit by digit. Icelanders read in pairs as whole numbers.

✅ Síminn minn er fimm sex sjö, tólf, þrjátíu og fjögur.

My number is 567 12 34. Pairs read as numbers.

❌ Hún fæddist árið eitt þúsund níu hundruð sextíu og sex.

Unnatural — years are grouped by hundreds, not as 'one thousand nine hundred'.

✅ Hún fæddist árið nítján hundruð sextíu og sex.

She was born in 1966. 'nineteen hundred sixty-six'.

❌ Ég keypti tveir bækur.

Incorrect — 'two' must agree with bækur (kvk): tvær.

✅ Ég keypti tvær bækur.

I bought two books. tvær (kvk).

Key Takeaways

Phone numbers are read in pairs, each pair as a whole number (34 = þrjátíu og fjögur); the kennitala is read the same way.
Addresses use á + the dative of the street, with the house number left bare: á Laugavegi 5 — and the street name inflects.
Dates use ordinals
- lowercase month (annar júní); years group by hundreds (nítján hundruð ...).
Quantities: tvö kíló, hálfur lítri, tuttugu prósent, með afslætti (með + dative).
1–4 decline for gender everywhere (tvær bækur, þrír menn, fjögur hús); from 5 up, numerals are invariable.

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