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Ég á tíu penna.

Ég á tíu penna.
I have ten pens.

Breakdown of Ég á tíu penna.

ég
I
eiga
to have
penni
the pen
tíu
ten
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Questions & Answers about Ég á tíu penna.

In English á usually means on. Why does á mean have here?

Icelandic has two different á in writing:

  1. á as a preposition:

    • Meaning: on, at
    • Example: Bókin er á borðinu. – The book is on the table.

  2. á as a verb form of eiga (to own, to have):

    • ég á = I have / I own
    • þú átt = you have
    • hann á = he has, etc.

In Ég á tíu penna, á is the verb (1st person singular present of eiga).
So the sentence structure is:

  • Ég (I) – subject
  • á (have) – verb
  • tíu penna (ten pens) – object
Why is it á and not the full verb eiga in the sentence?

Eiga is the infinitive form, like to have in English.
When you use it in a real sentence, you conjugate it:

  • ég á – I have
  • þú átt – you (sing.) have
  • hann / hún / það á – he / she / it has
  • við eigum – we have
  • þið eigið – you (pl.) have
  • þeir / þær / þau eiga – they have

So in the sentence I have ten pens, you must say:

  • Ég á tíu penna.
    (not Ég eiga or Ég eiga tíu penna)
Why is it penna and not penni at the end?

Penni is a masculine noun meaning pen. Icelandic nouns decline (change form) for case and number.

Base (dictionary) form – nominative singular:

  • penni – pen (as the subject)

But in Ég á tíu penna, pens is the object of the verb á (have).
The verb eiga (á) takes the accusative case for its object.

For penni, the important forms are:

  • Singular nominative: penni – (a) pen as subject
  • Singular accusative: penna – a pen as object
  • Plural nominative: pennar – pens as subject
  • Plural accusative: penna – pens as object

Notice that accusative plural is penna, the same spelling as several other forms.

In Ég á tíu penna:

  • tíu (ten) forces the noun to be plural
  • á (have) makes the noun accusative (object)

So we get tíu penna (ten pens in the accusative plural), not tíu penni.

Does the number tíu (ten) change form in other cases, like adjectives or nouns do?

No. Tíu is indeclinable in modern standard Icelandic: it keeps the same form in all cases and genders.

So you always say:

  • tíu penna – ten pens
  • tíu bækur – ten books
  • með tíu vinum – with ten friends
  • frá tíu borgum – from ten cities

The noun after it changes for case and number, but tíu itself stays the same.

Why isn’t there any word for a or some here? In English we’d say “I have ten pens” but for one pen we’d say “I have a pen”.

Icelandic has no indefinite article (no word for a/an or some).
You just use the bare noun.

  • Ég á penna. – can mean I have a pen or I have pen(s), depending on context.
  • Ég á tíu penna. – I have ten pens. (the number makes it clear it’s plural)

For definite meaning (the pen, the pens), Icelandic usually uses a suffix attached to the noun instead of a separate word (see below).

How would I say “I have the ten pens” instead of just “I have ten pens”?

To say “the ten pens”, you need the definite form of the noun. For penni, the accusative plural definite is:

  • pennana – the pens (as an object)

So:

  • Ég á tíu penna. – I have ten pens.
  • Ég á tíu pennana. – I have the ten pens.

Structure of the definite phrase:

  • tíu – ten
  • pennana – the pens (definite, accusative plural)
Is the word order fixed? Could I say something like “Tíu penna á ég”?

The neutral, most common word order is:

  • Subject – Verb – Object
  • Ég á tíu penna. – I have ten pens.

You can say Tíu penna á ég, but then you are:

  • putting tíu penna first for emphasis or stylistic reasons
  • this would sound like: “Ten pens I have” (rather marked, not neutral)

For a learner, it’s safest to stick with:

  • Ég á tíu penna. (S–V–O word order)
Can I use hef or er með instead of á to say “have”?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

  1. á (from eiga) – own, possess

    • Ég á tíu penna. – I own ten pens. (they belong to me)

  2. hef (from hafa) – more general have

    • Ég hef tíu penna. – I have ten pens. (can be similar to á, but a bit more formal / neutral, often used in fixed expressions, written style, etc.)

  3. er með – be with, have with me (temporary possession / on your person)

    • Ég er með tíu penna. – I have ten pens with me (on me, in my bag, etc., right now).

For “I own ten pens”, Ég á tíu penna is the most natural.

Is Ég always capitalized like English I?

No. In Icelandic, ég is only capitalized when it starts a sentence, just like any other word.

  • Ég á tíu penna. – at the beginning of the sentence, so Ég is capitalized.
  • In the middle of a sentence, it would be ég, with a lowercase é.

English I is always written with a capital letter; Icelandic ég is not.

How would I say “I don’t have ten pens” or “I had ten pens”?

  1. Negation (don’t have)
    Use ekki (not) after the verb:

    • Ég á ekki tíu penna. – I do not have ten pens.
    • Word order: Ég (subject) – á (verb) – ekki (negation) – tíu penna (object)

  2. Past tense (had)
    Past tense of eiga is átti in 1st person singular:

    • Ég átti tíu penna. – I had ten pens.

  3. Past + negation

    • Ég átti ekki tíu penna. – I did not have ten pens.
How do you pronounce Ég á tíu penna?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

  • Ég – [jɛːɣ]
  • á – [auː]
  • tíu – [ˈtʰiːʏ] (something like TEE-uh, but with a rounded final vowel)
  • penna – [ˈpʰɛnːa] (double nn is a long n)

Whole sentence: [jɛːɣ auː ˈtʰiːʏ ˈpʰɛnːa]

Very rough English-like approximation:

  • “Yehg ow TEE-uh PEN-na”

Main stress is on the first syllable of each word: Ég, tí-, pen-.

Does the noun always go in the plural after numbers like tíu, or can it stay singular like in some other languages?

After cardinal numbers greater than one, Icelandic uses the plural of the noun.

So you say:

  • tveir penna? – incorrect
  • tveir pennar – two pens (nominative plural)
  • Ég á tvo penna. – I have two pens. (accusative plural)
  • Ég á tíu penna. – I have ten pens. (accusative plural)

So unlike some languages that use a special “counting” form or singular, Icelandic uses the normal plural after numbers > 1, but the case (nominative, accusative, etc.) still depends on the grammar of the sentence.