Weak Feminine Nouns: -a type (kona, gata) | Icelandic Grammar

Weak feminine nouns are the friendly -a words English speakers expect "all Icelandic nouns" to look like: kona ("woman"), gata ("street"), stúlka ("girl"), klukka ("clock, bell"), vika ("week"), saga ("story, history"). They end in -a in the nominative singular, and — like the weak masculines — they collapse the entire oblique singular into a single ending: -u. So the singular has just two shapes, -a (nominative) and -u (everything else). The plural ends in -ur. This page drills kona and gata in full, handles the u-umlaut that turns gata into götum in the dative plural (and even into götu in the singular), and flags the one truly irregular form you must memorise: the genitive plural of kona is the suppletive kvenna.

The model: kona

Here is kona ("woman") in full. As with the weak masculines, the singular is the easy part — and then the genitive plural ambushes you:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nefnifall (nom.)	kona	konur
Þolfall (acc.)	konu	konur
Þágufall (dat.)	konu	konum
Eignarfall (gen.)	konu	kvenna

The singular is kona, konu, konu, konu: nominative -a, and then the accusative, dative and genitive all -u, indistinguishable. The plural is konur (nom. = acc.), dative konum — and then the genitive plural is kvenna, which looks nothing like the rest of the paradigm. Kvenna is suppletive: it comes from a different ancient stem (kven-, the same root as English "queen" and "quean"). You cannot derive it; you memorise it. Everywhere else kona is perfectly regular.

Konan á næstu hæð er læknir.

The woman on the next floor is a doctor. Nominative singular 'kona' (here konan, with the article) — the -a ending.

Ég sá konu hlaupa yfir götuna.

I saw a woman running across the street. Accusative singular 'konu' — the -u form, object of 'sjá'; and 'götuna' is 'gata' with the article.

Hann gaf konunni blóm.

He gave the woman flowers. Dative singular 'konu' (here konunni) — identical to the accusative, the -u form.

Þetta eru samtök kvenna í atvinnulífinu.

This is an association of women in business. Genitive plural 'kvenna' — the suppletive form; not 'konna' or 'kona'.

💡

Like the weak masculines, weak feminines collapse the oblique singular into one ending: -u. The only singular distinction is nominative -a vs everything-else -u. The singular is trivial — the two landmines are the dative-plural u-umlaut and the handful of suppletive genitive plurals, of which 'kvenna' is the one you'll meet first.

The a-stem and its u-umlaut: gata

Gata ("street") declines like kona in its endings, but because its stem vowel is a, that a rounds to ö whenever a -u follows — which is almost everywhere. Watch carefully:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nefnifall (nom.)	gata	götur
Þolfall (acc.)	götu	götur
Þágufall (dat.)	götu	götum
Eignarfall (gen.)	götu	gatna

This paradigm is a u-umlaut showcase. The nominative singular gata keeps its a (the ending is -a, not -u). But every form whose ending contains u — the oblique singular götu, the nominative/accusative plural götur, the dative plural götum — rounds the stem a to ö. So you get a in exactly two cells (nominative singular gata and genitive plural gatna) and ö in all six others. The genitive plural gatna keeps the a because its ending has no u, and it also syncopates (drops the stem vowel before -na).

Gatan er lokuð vegna framkvæmda.

The street is closed for roadworks. Nominative singular 'gata' (here gatan) — the one singular cell with -a, so the stem keeps its a.

Ég bý við þessa götu.

I live on this street. Accusative singular 'götu' after 'við' — the -u ending rounds a → ö.

Það er bílastæði beggja vegna götunnar.

There's parking on both sides of the street. Genitive singular 'götu' (here götunnar) — -u form, ö.

Á gömlu götunum í miðbænum er erfitt að keyra.

On the old streets downtown it's hard to drive. Dative plural 'götum' (here götunum) — ö before -um.

Borgin lét malbika tugi gatna í sumar.

The city had dozens of streets paved this summer. Genitive plural 'gatna' — back to a (no u in the ending), and with syncope.

💡

For an a-stem weak feminine like 'gata', the stem vowel is 'ö' in every form that has a -u in its ending, and 'a' only in the nominative singular (gata) and the genitive plural (gatna). Don't write 'gatu' or 'gatum' — if there's a -u ending, the stem is 'ö'.

A clean regular one: klukka

Most weak feminines do not have an a in the stem, so they skip the umlaut drama entirely. Klukka ("clock, bell") is the textbook regular: klukka, klukku, klukku, klukku / klukkur, klukkur, klukkum, klukkna. The only special form is the genitive plural klukkna (syncope before -na, like gatna).

Klukkan er orðin þrjú.

It's three o'clock. Nominative singular 'klukka' (here klukkan, with the article) — literally 'the clock has become three'.

Ég heyrði ekki í klukkunni í morgun.

I didn't hear the alarm this morning. Dative singular 'klukku' (here klukkunni) after 'í' — the -u form.

Það eru margar gamlar klukkur á safninu.

There are many old clocks in the museum. Nominative plural 'klukkur' — the -ur plural.

The genitive plural: -na with syncope, and the suppletive forms

The weak feminine genitive plural is the only cell that regularly surprises you. Its ending is -na, and the stem vowel typically syncopates (drops out) before it: gata → gatna, klukka → klukkna, saga → sagna, vika → vikna, tunga → tungna. So the genitive plural is shorter than you'd expect and reverts the a (no u in the ending, so no umlaut). On top of that, a few high-frequency nouns are suppletive — most importantly kona → kvenna.

Saga þjóðarinnar er rituð í fornum sögum.

The nation's history is written in old sagas. Dative plural 'sögum' (from 'saga') — ö before -um.

Þetta er ein merkasta persóna Íslendingasagna.

This is one of the most notable characters of the Sagas of Icelanders. Genitive plural 'sagna' (from 'saga') — the syncopated -na form, with a, in the famous compound 'Íslendingasögur'.

Eftir nokkrar vikur kemur sumarið.

In a few weeks summer comes. Accusative plural 'vikur' (from 'vika') — the -ur plural.

Common Mistakes

❌ Strong -s genitive on a weak feminine: 'litur konas'

Incorrect — weak feminines have no -s genitive; the genitive singular of 'kona' is 'konu'.

✅ litur konunnar

the colour of the woman / her colouring — genitive 'konu' + article.

❌ No rounding in the dative plural of gata: 'á gömlu gatum'

Incorrect — the -um ending rounds a → ö: 'götum', not 'gatum'.

✅ á gömlu götum

on old streets — dative plural 'götum'.

❌ Keeping 'a' in the oblique singular of gata: 'við þessa gatu'

Incorrect — the -u ending rounds the stem: the accusative singular is 'götu', not 'gatu'.

✅ við þessa götu

on this street — accusative singular 'götu'.

❌ Regular genitive plural for kona: 'samtök kvenna' written as 'samtök konna'

Incorrect — the genitive plural of 'kona' is the suppletive 'kvenna', from a different stem.

✅ samtök kvenna

an association of women — genitive plural 'kvenna'.

❌ Over-differentiating the oblique singular: a separate dative 'konu' vs accusative 'kona'

Incorrect — accusative, dative and genitive singular are all 'konu'; only the nominative is 'kona'.

✅ kona (nom.), konu (acc./dat./gen.)

One -u form covers all three oblique singular cases.

Key Takeaways

A feminine noun is weak if its nominative singular ends in -a (kona, gata, klukka).
The oblique singular is all -u: accusative = dative = genitive = konu. Only the nominative (-a) differs.
The plural is -ur / -ur / -um / -na (konur, konur, konum, ...), with the genitive plural usually syncopating: gatna, klukkna, sagna, vikna.
A stem a rounds to ö in every form with a -u ending — including the oblique singular of a-stems: gata → götu, götur, götum, with a surviving only in the nominative singular and the genitive plural (gatna).
The genitive plural of kona is the suppletive kvenna — memorise it; it does not follow the pattern.
No -s genitive ever: that is strictly a strong-noun feature.

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