Annotated Dialogue: Introducing Others

When you introduce two people in Icelandic, two small features do almost all the work — and English has a clean equivalent for neither. The first is the presentational Þetta er … ("This is …"), which stays the same shape no matter who you're introducing. The second is kynnast, a special "-st" verb meaning "get to know each other," which drags a dative along behind it. Here is a realistic three-way introduction, fully glossed, then taken apart piece by piece.

The dialogue

Kári runs into his friend Anna while walking with another friend, Tómas. He introduces them.

Short and friendly — and built around three patterns worth slowing down on: þetta er, kynnast + dative, and the gender-agreeing sæll/sæl of the handshake.

Þetta er … — the all-purpose "this is …"

To present a person, Icelandic uses þetta ("this") + er ("is"): Þetta er Tómas = "This is Tómas." The crucial, freeing fact is that þetta does not change for the gender of the person. You introduce a man, a woman, or a child — it's always þetta er ….

That feels strange to an English speaker for a subtle reason: þetta is grammatically neuter ("this thing/this one"), yet you're pointing at a person who is clearly a he or a she. Don't fight it — using þetta to present someone is simply the idiom, exactly as English "this is …" works for a person of any gender. The temptation to "fix" it with hann ("he") or hún ("she") is precisely the mistake to avoid (see the errors below).

Once the person is on stage, you switch to hann ("he") or hún ("she") to talk about them — as Kári does with Hún er frá Akureyri ("She's from Akureyri"). So the rule of thumb is clean: þetta er … to present, hann/hún to describe. (More on this pointing word: determiners/demonstratives.)

kynnast — the "-st" verb that means "get to know each other"

The polite phrase Gaman að kynnast þér ("Nice to meet you") hides a genuinely Icelandic feature. The verb kynna on its own means "to introduce" (you introduce someone). Add the ending -st and you get kynnast, which flips the meaning inward to "get acquainted / get to know each other." This -st ending is Icelandic's middle voice — a productive way of turning an action back onto the subject or making it reciprocal.

Compare:

• kynna — to introduce (someone to someone) — Ég kynni þig fyrir Önnu. "I introduce you to Anna."
• kynnast — to become acquainted — Við kynnumst. "We get to know each other."

So Gaman að kynnast þér literally reads "Fun to get-acquainted with-you" — a warm, idiomatic "nice to meet you." (The "-st" family is worth meeting properly: verbs/middle-voice-overview.)

…þér — why "meet you" is dative here

Now the case. kynnast governs the dative: the person you're getting acquainted with goes into the dative. The dative of þú ("you") is þér, which is why the fixed phrase is kynnast þér and not kynnast þig (accusative).

This is a place where English gives you no clue — "meet you" has the plain object "you," so a beginner naturally reaches for the accusative þig. But kynnast specifically demands the dative, so the right form is þér. Contrast it with hitta ("to meet, run into"), which takes the accusative — hence Gaman að hitta þig later in the dialogue, with þig. Same English "you," two different Icelandic forms, decided by the verb.

The handshake: Sæll / Sæl agreement again

When Anna and Tómas shake hands they each greet with sæll/sæl, and — as in any Icelandic greeting — the form agrees with the person being greeted, not the speaker:

• Anna (a woman) greets Tómas (a man): Sæll, Tómas!
• Tómas (a man) greets Anna (a woman): Sæl, Anna!

It's easy to forget under the social pressure of a handshake, but the logic never changes: match the listener. The natural reply to "nice to meet you" is Sömuleiðis ("likewise").

A small extra: the quick get-to-know questions

Once introduced, A1 small talk is just present-tense questions: Hvað gerir þú? ("What do you do?") and the answers Ég er kennari / nemandi ("I'm a teacher / a student"). Notice Icelandic drops the article — Ég er kennari, not "I am a teacher" — when stating a profession.

Vocabulary and forms

Things English speakers get wrong here

Key Takeaways

• Present a person with Þetta er … — it never changes for gender; switch to hann/hún only once you're talking about them.
• kynnast ("get acquainted") is a -st middle verb and takes the dative, so "nice to meet you" is Gaman að kynnast þér (not þig).
• The other "meet," hitta, takes the accusative: Gaman að hitta þig. Same English "you," two Icelandic forms.
• The handshake greeting sæll/sæl agrees with the person being greeted; reply with Sömuleiðis.
• State a profession with no article: Ég er kennari / nemandi.