Neuter Nouns: The Core Pattern (borð, land) | Icelandic Grammar

The neuter is the most regular and forgiving gender in Icelandic — and also the one that quietly breaks an English-speaker's deepest expectation about nouns. Two rules govern it. First, nominative and accusative are always identical, in both the singular and the plural; a neuter noun never distinguishes subject-form from object-form. Second — and this is the shock — the strong neuter plural adds no ending at all. One borð ("table"); two borð ("tables"). The word does not change. English always tacks something on (table → tables); the strong neuter simply does not. This page gives you the core pattern with borð and land ("country"), shows the one twist (u-umlaut in a-stems), and explains how Icelandic copes with a plural that looks exactly like its singular.

The base pattern: borð

Here is borð ("table"), the cleanest strong neuter, in full. Watch the nominative and accusative rows stay locked together:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nefnifall (nom.)	borð	borð
Þolfall (acc.)	borð	borð
Þágufall (dat.)	borði	borðum
Eignarfall (gen.)	borðs	borða

Read it: borð, borð, borði, borðs in the singular; borð, borð, borðum, borða in the plural. Only three distinct forms exist for the whole noun (borð, borði, borðs, borðum, borða — five slots, but nom./acc. collapse). The genitive singular -s and the dative singular -i are the only singular endings; the nominative and accusative are the bare stem in both numbers.

Borð er í eldhúsinu.

There is a table in the kitchen. Nominative singular 'borð' — bare stem.

Ég keypti nýtt borð.

I bought a new table. Accusative singular 'borð' — identical to the nominative; neuters never differ here.

Diskurinn er á borðinu.

The plate is on the table. Dative singular 'borði' (+ article '-nu') — the -i ending, governed by 'á'.

Ég man ekki verð borðsins.

I don't remember the price of the table. Genitive singular 'borðs' (+ article '-ins') — the -s ending. Note the natural order: the head noun 'verð' first, then the genitive 'borðsins'.

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For a neuter noun, never look for an accusative ending — there isn't one. Nom. = acc. always, in both numbers. The only singular endings are the dative -i and the genitive -s.

The zero plural: one borð, many borð

This is the rule that catches every English speaker. The strong neuter nominative and accusative plural take no ending — they are identical to the singular. Borð is both "a table" and "tables"; land is both "a country" and (almost — see below) "countries."

Það eru tvö borð í stofunni.

There are two tables in the living room. Plural 'borð' — exactly the same word as the singular. The numeral 'tvö' (two) carries the plurality.

Ég sé mörg hús héðan.

I see many houses from here. 'hús' (house) is the same in singular and plural; 'mörg' (many) signals the plural, not the noun.

Because the noun itself does not change, the plurality has to ride on something else — the numeral, the adjective, the article, or the verb. Compare:

	Singular	Plural
noun	borð	borð (unchanged)
numeral / quantifier	eitt borð	mörg borð
verb agreement	borðið er nýtt	borðin eru ný

The contrast eitt borð ("one table") vs mörg borð ("many tables") shows the system at work: the noun is frozen, but eitt (n. sg.) vs mörg (n. pl.) and er vs eru do the counting. A neuter noun leans on its modifiers the way a number leans on its place value.

Eitt borð er ódýrt, en mörg borð eru dýr.

One table is cheap, but many tables are expensive. The noun 'borð' is identical both times; 'eitt … er' vs 'mörg … eru' carry singular vs plural.

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When a strong neuter is plural, look at the agreement, not the noun. 'Mörg borð', 'borðin', 'eru' — the article, quantifier and verb tell you it's plural, because the noun won't.

The one twist: u-umlaut in a-stems (land, barn)

Strong neuters whose stem vowel is a are the single exception to "the plural never changes." Their bare plural — and their dative plural — round a → ö by u-umlaut, the same process that hits the masculines and feminines. So land does have a visible plural after all: lönd. And barn ("child") becomes börn.

Case	Singular (land)	Plural (land)
Nefnifall (nom.)	land	lönd
Þolfall (acc.)	land	lönd
Þágufall (dat.)	landi	löndum
Eignarfall (gen.)	lands	landa

The pattern: the nominative/accusative plural rounds (lönd), and the dative plural rounds too because its -um ending also triggers u-umlaut (löndum). But the genitive plural -a does not round — it stays landa — because the trigger is u, and the genitive ending has no u. The genitive singular keeps its plain -s: lands.

Ísland er fallegt land.

Iceland is a beautiful country. Singular 'land' — plain 'a'.

Norðurlöndin eru fimm lönd.

The Nordic countries are five countries. Plural 'lönd' (and 'Norðurlöndin' with the article) — the a → ö rounding.

Hún hefur ferðast til margra landa.

She has travelled to many countries. Genitive plural 'landa' — NO rounding, because the -a ending has no u to trigger umlaut.

Tvö börn eru að leika sér í garðinum.

Two children are playing in the garden. 'barn' → plural 'börn', a → ö. Note the neuter zero-plural is here masked by the umlaut.

Ég gaf börnunum ís.

I gave the children ice cream. Dative plural 'börnunum' — 'börn' + dative '-um' (rounding) + article '-um'.

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Only a-stem neuters change in the plural, and only by rounding to ö (land → lönd, barn → börn). The genitive plural -a escapes the rounding (landa, barna). If the stem vowel isn't 'a', the plural really is identical to the singular.

Common Mistakes

❌ Adding a plural marker: 'tvö borðs' or 'mörg húsir'

Incorrect — strong neuters take NO plural ending; the plural of 'borð' is 'borð', of 'hús' is 'hús'.

✅ tvö borð, mörg hús

two tables, many houses — the noun is unchanged; the quantifier marks the plural.

❌ Distinguishing nominative from accusative: using a different form as the object

Incorrect — neuter nom. and acc. are ALWAYS identical. 'Borð er hér' and 'Ég sé borð' use the same form.

✅ Borð er hér. Ég sé borð.

There's a table here. I see a table. Same form, subject and object.

❌ Missing the umlaut in a-stems: 'tvö land' for 'two countries'

Incorrect — 'land' rounds in the plural: 'lönd'. The a-stem neuters are the exception to the zero plural.

✅ tvö lönd

two countries — a → ö in the plural.

❌ Rounding the genitive plural: 'til margra lönda'

Incorrect — the genitive plural -a does not trigger u-umlaut; it stays 'landa'.

✅ til margra landa

to many countries — genitive plural 'landa', plain 'a'.

❌ Forgetting the dative singular -i: 'á borð' for 'on the table'

Incorrect — 'á' meaning 'on (location)' takes the dative, and the dative singular of 'borð' is 'borði'.

✅ á borði (á borðinu)

on a table / on the table — dative singular 'borði'.

Key Takeaways

The neuter is the most uniform gender: nominative = accusative always, in both numbers.
The strong neuter plural is bare — no ending. One borð, two borð; one hús, many hús.
Because the noun doesn't change, number rides on the modifiers: eitt borð er vs mörg borð eru — the quantifier, article and verb do the counting.
The singular endings are the dative -i and the genitive -s (borði, borðs); everything else is the bare stem.
The one twist: a-stem neuters round a → ö in the bare plural and dative plural (land → lönd, löndum; barn → börn), but the genitive plural -a stays plain (landa, barna).

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