The core neuter pattern covered the consonant-stem neuters like borð and land, where the plural adds no ending. This page is about the other neuter shapes you meet constantly in everyday speech: the neuters that end in -i (epli "apple", ríki "state", kvæði "poem"), and a tiny cluster of weak-neuter irregulars — above all auga "eye" and eyra "ear" — that decline like nothing else in the language. The headline fact about the -i neuters is genuinely surprising for an English speaker: epli is one apple and epli is also two apples. The noun is frozen across the entire singular and the entire plural; the only thing that tells you the number is the suffixed article — eplið (the apple) versus eplin (the apples). Number, in this class, lives almost entirely in the article.
The -i neuters: epli, ríki, kvæði
A large set of neuter nouns end in -i in the citation form. Common ones: epli (apple), ríki (state/kingdom), kvæði (poem), kerti (candle), belti (belt), enni (forehead), læri (thigh), eyra's relative hjarta (more on that below). What unites them is a remarkable flatness: the -i is kept in every singular case, and the nominative/accusative plural is also -i — identical to the singular. Here is epli in full:
| Case | Singular | Singular + article | Plural | Plural + article |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nefnifall (nom.) | epli | eplið | epli | eplin |
| Þolfall (acc.) | epli | eplið | epli | eplin |
| Þágufall (dat.) | epli | eplinu | eplum | eplunum |
| Eignarfall (gen.) | eplis | eplisins | epla | eplanna |
Read the bare-noun columns and the pattern jumps out. In the singular, epli is identical in the nominative, accusative and dative — three cases, one form — and only the genitive adds anything: eplis. In the plural, the nominative and accusative are still epli, exactly the singular; only the dative (eplum) and genitive (epla) take real endings. So across eight bare-noun slots, five are the single word epli. The class is almost inflectionless.
Þetta epli er súrt.
This apple is sour. Nominative singular 'epli'.
Má ég fá eitt epli?
Can I have one apple? Accusative singular 'epli' — identical to the nominative.
Ég keypti tíu epli í búðinni.
I bought ten apples at the shop. Accusative PLURAL 'epli' — exactly the same word as the singular; the numeral 'tíu' carries the plurality.
Það er ormur í eplinu.
There's a worm in the apple. Dative singular + article 'eplinu' — the bare dative is still 'epli', the article '-nu' is added.
The article does the counting: eplið vs eplin
Because epli is identical in the singular and plural nominative/accusative, the definite article is the only thing that distinguishes number in the most common forms. This is the crucial insight of the whole class. The neuter article is -ið in the singular nominative/accusative and -in in the plural:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| bare noun | epli | epli (identical) |
| eplið "the apple" | eplin "the apples" |
So in a definite phrase the single letter difference — -ð versus -n — does all the grammatical work that English does with the whole word apple → apples. Get the article wrong and you have changed the number of the sentence without touching the noun.
Eplið á borðinu er rotið.
The apple on the table is rotten. Singular 'eplið' — the -ð marks one apple.
Eplin í skálinni eru fersk.
The apples in the bowl are fresh. Plural 'eplin' — the -n marks several; note the verb 'eru' (are) agrees.
Ríkið borgar þetta. / Ríkin í Evrópu eru ósammála.
The state pays for this. / The states in Europe disagree. Singular 'ríkið' vs plural 'ríkin' — same noun 'ríki', distinguished only by the article.
Why English speakers stumble here
English marks plurality on the noun itself and treats it as non-negotiable: apple must become apples. Icelandic -i neuters do the opposite — they refuse to mark number on the noun in the nominative and accusative, and offload it onto the article and the agreement (the numeral, the adjective, the verb). The instinct to "add an ending for the plural" is exactly what you must suppress. There is no *eplir, no *eplis-as-a-plural, no *eplin-without-the-article-being-meant. The plural of epli is epli. A useful mental reframe: in this class, the plural is the unmarked form, and you reach for the article to say which number you mean.
The weak-neuter irregulars: auga and eyra
A handful of neuters are weak, not strong, and they decline in a pattern shared with no other neuter group. The two you must know are auga ("eye") and eyra ("ear") — body parts you reach for daily. They end in -a (not -i) in the singular, keep -a through the whole singular, and form their plural in -u. Here is auga in full:
| Case | Singular | Singular + article | Plural | Plural + article |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nefnifall (nom.) | auga | augað | augu | augun |
| Þolfall (acc.) | auga | augað | augu | augun |
| Þágufall (dat.) | auga | auganu | augum | augunum |
| Eignarfall (gen.) | auga | augans | augna | augnanna |
Note three things. First, the entire singular is just auga — nominative, accusative, dative and genitive, all identical (the genitive does not add -s, unlike the -i neuters). Second, the plural nominative/accusative is augu — the -a switches to -u, giving the language its word for "(the two) eyes": augun. Third — and this is the form that catches everyone — the genitive plural is augna, with the stem consonant cluster appearing and no -u-: not *augua, not *augna-with-an-extra-vowel, just augna. Eyra runs in perfect parallel: eyra / eyra / eyra / eyra in the singular, eyru / eyru / eyrum / eyrna in the plural.
| Case | auga (sg.) | auga (pl.) | eyra (sg.) | eyra (pl.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | auga | augu | eyra | eyru |
| Acc. | auga | augu | eyra | eyru |
| Dat. | auga | augum | eyra | eyrum |
| Gen. | auga | augna | eyra | eyrna |
Hún er með brún augu.
She has brown eyes. Plural 'augu' — the -a of the singular becomes -u in the plural.
Ég fékk eitthvað í augað.
I got something in my eye. Dative singular + article 'augað' — the bare singular is just 'auga'.
Hann lokaði augunum og sofnaði.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep. Dative plural + article 'augunum' — bare dative plural 'augum'.
Litur augnanna hennar er ótrúlegur.
The colour of her eyes is incredible. Genitive plural + article 'augnanna' — the bare gen.pl is 'augna', with the -gn- cluster and no -u-.
Tónlistin var of há fyrir eyrun á mér.
The music was too loud for my ears. Plural + article 'eyrun' (nom./acc.pl 'eyru').
A note on hjarta
Hjarta ("heart") belongs to the same weak-neuter family but with one wrinkle: its singular is hjarta / hjarta / hjarta / hjarta like auga, and its plural is hjörtu / hjörtu / hjörtum / hjartna. The plural shows the u-umlaut (a → ö) you'd expect before the -u (hjörtu), exactly as barn → börn does, and the genitive plural is hjartna. So hjarta is auga's pattern plus the umlaut its a-stem triggers.
Hjartað í mér sló hratt.
My heart was beating fast. Singular + article 'hjartað' — bare singular 'hjarta'.
Læknar græddu tvö hjörtu í sjúklinga í gær.
Surgeons transplanted two hearts into patients yesterday. Plural 'hjörtu' — a → ö before the -u.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég keypti tíu eplir.
Incorrect — -i neuters take NO plural ending in the nominative/accusative. The plural of 'epli' is 'epli'.
✅ Ég keypti tíu epli.
I bought ten apples. The numeral marks the plural; the noun is unchanged.
❌ Eplin er gott. (meaning 'the apple is good')
Incorrect — 'eplin' is the PLURAL article; for one apple use 'eplið' (singular). Mixing -ð and -n changes the number.
✅ Eplið er gott.
The apple is good. Singular 'eplið' with the -ð article.
❌ Hún er með brún auga. (meaning 'brown eyes')
Incorrect — the plural of 'auga' is 'augu', not the singular 'auga'. Two eyes need the plural form.
✅ Hún er með brún augu.
She has brown eyes. Plural 'augu'.
❌ Litur augana hennar.
Incorrect — the genitive plural is 'augna' (with -gn-), so with the article it's 'augnanna', not the regularised 'augana'.
✅ Litur augnanna hennar.
The colour of her eyes. Genitive plural + article 'augnanna'.
❌ Genitive singular of 'auga' as 'augas'.
Incorrect — weak neuters do NOT add -s in the genitive singular; the whole singular of 'auga' is just 'auga'. (Compare the -i neuter 'eplis', which does take -s.)
✅ liturinn á auga barnsins → litur augans
The colour of the child's eye → 'augans' (auga + article -ns), the bare gen.sg being 'auga'.
Key Takeaways
- -i neuters (epli, ríki, kvæði) keep -i through the whole singular and have a plural identical to the singular in the nominative/accusative — only the dative (-um) and genitive (-a/-s) add endings.
- Because the bare noun doesn't change number, the article carries it: singular eplið (-ð) vs plural eplin (-n). Listen for the final consonant.
- English forces a plural ending on every noun; this class forbids one. The plural is the unmarked form, and you select number with the article and agreement.
- The weak-neuter irregulars auga and eyra have an invariant singular (no gen. -s), a plural in -u (augu, eyru), and the trap genitive plurals augna and eyrna.
- hjarta follows auga but adds the u-umlaut its a-stem causes: plural hjörtu, gen.pl hjartna.
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- Neuter Nouns: The Core Pattern (borð, land)A2 — The strong neuter declension — the most uniform gender in Icelandic, where nominative and accusative are always identical, the plural adds no ending at all, and number is often carried only by the article, adjective or verb.
- Weak Feminine Nouns: -a type (kona, gata)A2 — The weak feminine declension — nominative singular -a, all oblique singulars -u, nominative plural -ur — drilled through kona and gata, with the u-umlaut a→ö (götum) and the suppletive genitive plural kvenna.
- Definite Article: Neuter ParadigmA2 — The full suffixed definite article for neuter nouns — borðið / borðinu / borðsins and plural borðin / borðunum / borðanna — built on the strong sample borð and the irregular auga-type, with the crucial fact that neuter nominative and accusative are always identical.
- u-Umlaut in Plurals and the Dative PluralA2 — The single most pervasive sound rule in Icelandic noun inflection: a stem 'a' rounds to 'ö' before a following 'u' — most reliably in the dative-plural ending -um (dögum, löndum) and in many bare plurals (barn → börn, land → lönd).