Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.

I write a short postcard to my aunt.

Breakdown of Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.

• ég: I
• skrifa: to write
• minn: my
• til: to
• stutt: short
• frænka: the aunt
• póstkort: the postcard

Questions & Answers about Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.

In English we say I am writing a short postcard. Why is it just Ég skrifa stutt póstkort and not something like Ég er að skrifa?

Modern Icelandic usually uses the simple present (Ég skrifa) where English uses the present continuous (I am writing).

• Ég skrifa stutt póstkort can mean:
  • I write a short postcard (habitual, e.g. every week), or
  • I am writing a short postcard (right now), depending on context.

You can say:

• Ég er að skrifa stutt póstkort.

This literally means I am in the process of writing a short postcard and emphasizes the ongoing action more strongly, similar to the English continuous. But using Ég skrifa alone is already perfectly normal for “I am writing” in many contexts, so the simple present is much more common than in English.

Why is there no word for a in stutt póstkort? Why not something like eitt stutt póstkort?

Icelandic has no indefinite article (no direct equivalent of English a / an).

• stutt póstkort = a short postcard or short postcard in English.

You only add einn / ein / eitt as a numeral when you specifically mean “one (single) postcard” rather than just “a postcard”:

• Ég skrifa eitt stutt póstkort.
  = I write one short postcard (emphasizing the number one).

Without eitt, the default translation into English is with a.

Why is the adjective stutt in that form? Shouldn’t it be something like stuttur?

Adjectives in Icelandic agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case
• definiteness (strong vs weak declension)

Here:

• póstkort is neuter, singular, accusative (it is the direct object of skrifa).
• The adjective stuttur (short) must match that:
  • neuter, singular, accusative, strong declension → stutt

Patterns for stuttur (strong):

• masculine nom sg: stuttur
• feminine nom sg: stutt
• neuter nom/acc sg: stutt

So stutt póstkort is “correct” because póstkort is neuter and in the accusative; the appropriate form of the adjective there is stutt, not stuttur or stutta.

What gender is póstkort, and how does it decline?

póstkort (postcard) is a neuter noun.

Singular:

• nominative: póstkort
• accusative: póstkort
• dative: póstkorti
• genitive: póstkorts

Plural:

• nominative: póstkort
• accusative: póstkort
• dative: póstkortum
• genitive: póstkorta

In your sentence, póstkort is the direct object, so it’s in the accusative singular, which happens to look the same as the nominative: póstkort.

What does the preposition til do to the following noun? Why is it til frænku, not til frænka?

The preposition til (to, towards, for in many senses) always takes the genitive case.

The base form of the noun is:

• frænka (nominative singular, aunt / female relative).

Its genitive singular is:

• frænku

So after til you must use the genitive:

• til frænku = to (my) aunt, literally to (the) aunt.

That’s why the form changes from frænka (nominative) to frænku (genitive).

Why is it frænku minnar and not frænka mín or mín frænka?

Three things are going on here:

1. Case from the preposition

   • til requires genitive, so frænka → frænku.

2. Position of the possessive

   • Possessive pronouns like minn / mín / mitt (my) can go:
     • before the noun: mín frænka (my aunt)
     • after the noun: frænka mín (my aunt)
   • After the noun, the possessive usually takes a weak declension and must fully agree in case, gender, and number.

3. Agreement in case, gender, and number

   • frænku is:
     • feminine
     • singular
     • genitive
   • The possessive minn must match that:
     • feminine, singular, genitive form = minnar

So:

• Nominative: frænka mín = my aunt
• Genitive (after til): til frænku minnar = to my aunt

Using frænka mín in this sentence would be wrong because you need the genitive form after til.

How do I know that minnar belongs to frænku and not to póstkort?

The possessive pronoun agrees with the noun it “belongs” to:

• frænku: feminine, singular, genitive
• póstkort: neuter, singular, accusative

The forms of minn (“my”) that match are:

• neuter, singular, accusative: mitt
• feminine, singular, genitive: minnar

In the sentence we see minnar, so it must refer to the feminine genitive noun frænku.

If you wanted my postcard, you would say:

• Ég skrifa stutt póstkortið mitt.
  (I write my short postcard.)
  Here mitt matches póstkortið (neuter, singular, accusative, definite).

Does frænka always mean “aunt”, or can it mean other relatives too?

frænka is broader than just “aunt”. It means a female relative, typically:

• aunt (father’s or mother’s sister, or the wife of your uncle)
• female cousin
• niece

Context usually tells you which one is meant. But in many teaching materials, frænka is first taught as aunt because that’s a clear and common relationship.

If you want to be very specific, Icelandic often adds extra words (for example, mother’s sister, sister’s daughter, etc.), but in everyday speech frænka alone is very common.

Could the word order be different, like Ég skrifa til frænku minnar stutt póstkort?

Icelandic word order is relatively flexible compared to English, but not everything sounds equally natural.

• The usual and most natural order here is:
  • Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.

You can move the prepositional phrase:

• Ég skrifa til frænku minnar stutt póstkort.

This is grammatically acceptable but sounds a bit marked or slightly awkward in such a simple sentence. In longer sentences, changing the order can be used to emphasize different parts, but for a basic example, learners are usually taught the “neutral” order:

• subject – verb – object – prepositional phrase
• Ég – skrifa – stutt póstkort – til frænku minnar

Does Ég skrifa stutt póstkort refer to a habitual action or to something happening right now? Could it also mean the future?

The Icelandic simple present can cover several meanings that English distinguishes:

1. Habitual / general

   • Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar á hverjum sunnudegi.
     = I write a short postcard to my aunt every Sunday.

2. Action happening now (depending on context)

   • In the right context, it can be understood as I am writing… even without er að.

3. Planned or near future

   • Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar seinna í dag.
     = I’ll write a short postcard to my aunt later today.

So yes, it can be habitual, ongoing, or future, depending on context and extra words like núna (now), á morgun (tomorrow), etc.

Can I say Ég er að skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar, and how is that different?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct:

• Ég er að skrifa stutt póstkort til frænku minnar.
  = I am (in the process of) writing a short postcard to my aunt.

Difference in nuance:

• Ég skrifa stutt póstkort…
  • More neutral; can be present, habitual, or future depending on context.
• Ég er að skrifa stutt póstkort…
  • Focuses on the ongoing action right now, very close to the English present continuous.

In everyday Icelandic, Ég skrifa… is still extremely common, and er að + infinitive is used when you explicitly want to stress “right now” or an ongoing process.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “I write a short postcard to my aunts” (plural)?

You need to put frænka and minn in the plural genitive after til:

• Ég skrifa stutt póstkort til frænka minna.
  = I write a short postcard to my aunts.

Changes:

• frænku (genitive singular) → frænka (genitive plural)
• minnar (feminine genitive singular of minn) → minna (genitive plural)

So:

• singular: til frænku minnar = to my aunt
• plural: til frænka minna = to my aunts