Counting 1 to 20

Counting is the very first thing most learners do in a new language, and Icelandic numbers are mostly friendly: from fimm (5) upward they never change shape. But Icelandic hides a surprise right at the start — the numbers 1 to 4 agree in gender with whatever you are counting, just like adjectives. This page teaches you to recite 0–20 with correct pronunciation and spelling, and plants the seed that einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir will later bend. Get the sounds right now and the gender work later will feel natural.

The list: 0 to 20

Here is the full set. Read the third column aloud — the rough pronunciation hints matter, because several forms look nothing like their English cousins.

A few spelling points you must not drop. Einn has a double n. Þrír begins with þ (the th in thin), never a t — this is the single most common mispronunciation by English speakers. Sjö carries the ö, and níu and tíu both take the í with an accent (a long ee, not a short i). The teens 13–19 all end in -tán with a long á, except sautján and the -ján group, which are written exactly as shown.

The two halves of the list

There is a hidden line drawn through this list at 5. From fimm (5) all the way to tuttugu (20) — and far beyond — the numbers are indeclinable: they have exactly one form no matter what they count or what role they play in the sentence. Fimm is fimm whether you have five apples, five women, or five houses.

But 1, 2, 3, 4 are different. They decline — they change shape to agree with the gender of the noun they count. You do not need to master this yet (it has its own page), but you should hear it now, because the most damaging assumption an English speaker can make is "numbers are just words, they don't change." In Icelandic, the first four do.

A first taste of the 1–4 gender shift

Icelandic nouns come in three genders: masculine (kk), feminine (kvk), and neuter (hk). When you put 1–4 in front of a noun, the number copies that gender. Here is "one" with one noun of each gender so you can see the pattern — and then "two":

So one is einn / ein / eitt, and two is tveir / tvær / tvö, depending on the noun. The same happens with three (þrír / þrjár / þrjú) and four (fjórir / fjórar / fjögur). When you simply recite the count out loud — with nothing being counted — you use the masculine forms: einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir. That is why a plain count starts the way it does.

Notice you do not need to remember this to count to twenty. You only need it the moment a number 1–4 sits in front of a real noun. For now, the recital forms — einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir — are enough.

Everyday uses you will meet immediately

These numbers do real work from day one. You will use them for age (Ég er tuttugu ára — I'm twenty), for prices (Það kostar tólf hundruð krónur), for phone numbers (read in pairs), and for plain counting of objects. The age and price constructions have their own page; here, just notice that the numbers themselves are the same words you just learned.

A counting rhyme to fix the sounds

Icelandic children learn the numbers with little chanting rhymes. A simple, genuinely used counting chant is built on rhyming pairs — say it aloud a few times and the trickier forms (sjö, níu) settle into your mouth:

The point is not the words but the rhythm: chanting glues the sequence together so you can produce it without stopping to translate. Counting fluently — forwards in one breath — is a milestone worth hitting before you worry about declension.

Common Mistakes

English speakers almost always reach for a t. The Icelandic þ is the th in thin — þrír sounds like THREER, never TREER.

When you count with nothing attached, use the masculine series einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir. The bare feminine ein belongs in front of a feminine noun.

Sjö and níu look unlike their English equivalents and are easy to garble. Keep the ö in sjö and the long í in níu and tíu.

The number 1–4 must match the noun's gender. Barn (hk) takes tvö, not the masculine tveir. (This is previewed here and explained fully on the 1–4 page.)

Watch the double consonants: ellefu (11) has ll, and einn (1) has nn.

Key Takeaways

• The cardinals are núll, einn, tveir, þrír, fjórir, fimm, sex, sjö, átta, níu, tíu, ellefu, tólf, þrettán, fjórtán, fimmtán, sextán, sautján, átján, nítján, tuttugu.
• 5 through 20 never change — learn them as fixed words.
• 1, 2, 3, 4 agree in gender (einn/ein/eitt, tveir/tvær/tvö, þrír/þrjár/þrjú, fjórir/fjórar/fjögur); a bare recital uses the masculine forms.
• Spelling traps: þrír (þ, not t), einn and ellefu (double consonants), sjö (ö), níu/tíu (long í).
• You will use these immediately for age, prices, telling the time, and counting objects.