Questions & Answers about Ég á tólf penna.
What does á mean in Ég á tólf penna, and why not use hafa?
á comes from the verb eiga, meaning “to own” or “to possess.” For expressing simple possession, Icelandic uses ég á (“I own/I have”). The verb hafa is mainly an auxiliary in perfect tenses (ég hef séð = “I have seen”) or appears in some idiomatic contexts, but you wouldn’t say ég hef tólf penna for “I have twelve pens.”
What is the infinitive of á, and how is it conjugated?
The infinitive is að eiga. It’s an irregular strong verb. Present‐tense conjugation looks like this:
- ég á (I have)
- þú átt (you have)
- hann/hún/það á (he/she/it has)
- við eigum (we have)
- þið eigið (you pl. have)
- þeir/þær/þau eiga (they have)
Why is the noun penni in the form penna instead of penni or pennar?
When a noun is counted by a number greater than four, Icelandic grammar requires the noun to take the genitive plural. The genitive plural of penni is penna, so tólf penna literally means “twelve of pens.”