Ég elska ömmu mína.

I love my grandmother.

Breakdown of Ég elska ömmu mína.

• ég: I
• elska: to love
• mín: my
• amma: the grandmother

Questions & Answers about Ég elska ömmu mína.

Why is it ömmu and not amma in Ég elska ömmu mína?

Because ömmu is the accusative form of amma (“grandmother”).

• Ég is the subject, so it’s in the nominative.
• The thing you love (ömmu mína) is the direct object, which must be in the accusative.

Declension of amma (singular):

• Nominative: amma – (subject) Amma kemur. “Grandma is coming.”
• Accusative: ömmu – (direct object) Ég elska ömmu. “I love grandma.”
• Dative: ömmu
• Genitive: ömmu

So in this sentence, ömmu is required because “grandmother” is the direct object of elska (“to love”).

What case is ömmu mína in, and why does mína look like that?

Ömmu mína is in the accusative singular feminine.

• Ömmu: accusative singular of amma.
• Mína: accusative singular feminine form of the possessive pronoun mín (“my”).

In Icelandic, possessive pronouns behave like adjectives: they must agree with the noun in

• gender (masculine/feminine/neuter),
• number (singular/plural), and
• case (nominative/accusative/dative/genitive).

Here:

• Noun: amma – feminine, singular, accusative → ömmu
• Possessive: mín must match that → mína

So you get ömmu mína “my grandmother” as the object.

Why does mína come after ömmu? Why not say mína ömmu like “my grandma”?

The normal word order with possessive pronouns in Icelandic is:

noun + possessive

So:

• ömmu mína = my grandmother
• bókina mína = my book
• húsið mitt = my house

You can say mína ömmu, but then mína is more strongly emphasized, something like “my grandmother (as opposed to someone else’s)” or in a contrastive context.

In a neutral sentence like Ég elska ömmu mína, the most natural order is noun + possessive.

Why is it mína and not just mín?

Mín is the dictionary (base) form, but it changes its ending to agree with the noun.

For mín (“my”):

• Feminine nominative singular: mín
• Feminine accusative singular: mína
• Feminine dative singular: minni
• Feminine genitive singular: minnar

Since ömmu is accusative singular feminine, the possessive must also be accusative singular feminine, so we choose mína, not mín.

Compare:

• Amma mín – nominative: “my grandmother (is...)”
• Ég elska ömmu mína – accusative: “I love my grandmother.”

Why is it Ég elska and not Ég elskar?

Because of how present tense verbs conjugate in Icelandic. For elska (“to love”):

• ég elska – I love
• þú elskar – you (sing.) love
• hann / hún / það elskar – he / she / it loves
• við elskum – we love
• þið elskið – you (pl.) love
• þeir / þær / þau elska – they love

So the 1st person singular (“I”) form ends in -a without -r: ég elska.
Adding -r (ég elskar) would be grammatically wrong.

Why is there no separate word for “the” in “my grandmother”? Why not Ég elska hina ömmu mína?

Icelandic handles definiteness differently from English.

1. When you use a possessive pronoun (my/your/his...), the noun is already understood as definite.

   • ömmu mína = “my grandmother” (definite)
     Adding a separate article (the) is normally unnecessary.

2. Icelandic usually marks definiteness with a suffix article on the noun (e.g., amma → amman, bók → bókin), not a separate word like “the”.

So the most natural way to say “I love my grandmother” is simply:

• Ég elska ömmu mína.

A form like ömmuna mína is possible in some contexts but is more marked and not the default with a possessive.

What are the basic parts of Ég elska ömmu mína?

Word-by-word:

• Ég – “I” (1st person singular pronoun, nominative)
• elska – “love” (1st person singular present of elska)
• ömmu – “grandmother” (accusative singular of amma)
• mína – “my” (accusative singular feminine of mín)

Grammar pattern:
> Subject (nom.) + verb + direct object (acc. + agreeing possessive)
> Ég (nom.) elska (verb) ömmu mína (acc.).

Can I change the word order, for example say Ég elska mína ömmu?

Yes, Ég elska mína ömmu is grammatically correct. Both:

• Ég elska ömmu mína.
• Ég elska mína ömmu.

are possible and mean essentially “I love my grandmother.”

However, the most neutral and common order is noun + possessive: ömmu mína.
Putting the possessive first (mí­na ömmu) tends to put a bit more focus on mí­na (“my grandmother”), often in contrast with someone else’s.

What you generally cannot do is separate the subject from the verb in strange ways like

• ✗ Ég mína ömmu elska – ungrammatical/very odd in normal speech.

Basic SVO order is preferred: Ég – elska – ömmu mína.

How do you pronounce Ég elska ömmu mína?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

• Ég → [jɛːɣ] or [jɛːk] (often a soft “y-ehg/yehk”)
• elska → [ˈɛlska] (stress on el)
• ömmu → [ˈœmʏ] (stress on öm; ö like German ö in schön)
• mína → [ˈmiːna] (long í like “ee” in “see”)

Whole sentence:
> [jɛːɣ ˈɛlska ˈœmʏ ˈmiːna]

Stress in Icelandic is almost always on the first syllable of each word.

What is the gender of amma, and does that affect the sentence?

Amma (“grandmother”) is feminine.

That affects:

1. The form of the noun in different cases:
   
   • Nominative: amma
   • Accusative: ömmu
2. The form of the possessive pronoun:
   
   • Feminine accusative singular of mín is mína.

If it were a masculine noun (like afi, “grandfather”), you would see different endings:

• Ég elska afa minn. – “I love my grandfather.”
  
  • afa: accusative of afi (masc.)
  • minn: masculine accusative singular of minn/mín/mitt.

How would I say “I loved my grandmother” or “I don’t love my grandmother”?

Two useful variations:

1. Past tense

   • Ég elskaði ömmu mína.
     = “I loved my grandmother.”
     Here elska → elskaði (simple past).

2. Negation

   • Ég elska ekki ömmu mína.
     = “I don’t love my grandmother.”
     Ekki (“not”) usually comes right after the verb in simple sentences.

The noun phrase ömmu mína keeps the same accusative form; tense and negation are marked on/around the verb, not on the noun.

Is elska used like English “love” for both people and things?

Mostly yes. Elska is used for:

• Strong affection for people:
  
  • Ég elska ömmu mína. – I love my grandmother.
• Strong liking of things / activities:
  
  • Ég elska kjúkling. – I love chicken.
  • Ég elska að lesa. – I love to read.

What it doesn’t usually do is that vague English politeness use:

• English: “I’d love to come sometime.”
• Icelandic would not use elska there; you’d use other expressions like
  
  • Mig langar að koma eitthvað tíma. – “I’d like to come sometime.”

Is Ég always capitalized like English “I”?

No.

In Icelandic, ég is only capitalized when it is at the beginning of a sentence, just like any other word.

• Ég elska ömmu mína. – at the start → capitalized.
• Hún segir að ég elski ömmu mína. – inside the sentence → ég is lowercase.

This is different from English, where I is capitalized everywhere.