Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Mamma mín er falleg.

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns normally follow the noun they modify. So instead of saying “mín mamma,” the neutral word order is mamma mín (“mother my”). Placing mín before mamma is possible only for special emphasis, but it’s not the default.

How do I know mín is correct and not minn or mitt?

Icelandic possessives agree in gender, number and case with the noun. Mamma is feminine, singular, nominative, so you need the feminine nominative form of minn, which is mín.
– Masculine nom. sg.: minn
– Feminine nom. sg.: mín
– Neuter nom. sg.: mitt

Why is there no article like “a” or “the” before mamma?

Icelandic does not have a separate indefinite article (“a”). A bare noun like mamma can mean “mother” or “a mother” depending on context. For definiteness, Icelandic either adds a definite suffix (e.g. mamman = “the mother”) or uses a possessive pronoun (mamma mín = “my mother”).

What case is mamma in, and why?

Mamma is in the nominative case because it’s the subject of the sentence. In Icelandic, subjects always appear in the nominative. Hence “My mother” → Mamma mín (nom.) er falleg.

Why does falleg end in -leg instead of -ur or -a?

The base adjective is fallegur (“beautiful”). When used predicatively (after the verb er, “is”), adjectives always take the strong declension. For a feminine singular nominative noun, the strong form drops the -ur ending, giving falleg.

Why not fallega? Isn’t that the feminine form?

Fallega is the weak form (ending in -a) used attributively with definite nouns (e.g. fallega bílnum = “the pretty car”). But predicative adjectives (after vera) always use the strong form, so you say er falleg, not er fallega.

How do you conjugate að vera (“to be”) here?

Er is the third-person singular present tense of að vera. The full present tense is:
• ég er (I am)
• þú ert (you are)
• hann/hún/það er (he/she/it is)
• við erum (we are)
• þið eruð (you [pl.] are)
• þeir/þær/þau eru (they are)

How would I say “Our mother is beautiful”?

Replace mín with the first-person plural okkar (“our”):
Mamma okkar er falleg.

How is falleg pronounced?

Approximately FAL-yekh:
• a as in “father”
• ll as a palatalized [l̥ʎ]
• e as in “yes”
• final g as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ], like the Spanish “g” in amigo
(IPA: [ˈfaljɛɣ])

What’s the difference between mamma and móðir?

Mamma is the informal, everyday word for “mom” (like “mom”/“mommy” in English). Móðir is the formal word for “mother” and is less common in casual speech. You’d normally say mamma mín rather than móðir mín.