Í hverju ertu? — what you are wearing (vera í + Dative)

Two verbs, two cases

Icelandic splits what you wear between two constructions, and the case is the whole difference:

constructionexample
garments you are insidevera í + Dativehún er í rauðri peysu
accessories you carry or bearvera með + Accusativehann er með bláan trefil

Hats, scarves, glasses, jewellery and bags go with með; everything you put your body into goes with í.

She is in a pink sweater.
Hún er í bleikri peysu.

The adjective agrees, in the dative

This is the dative adjective ending you learned in the last two lessons, now doing real work:

genderdative singularexample
masculine-umí bláum jakka
feminine-rií grárri peysu
neuter-uí grænu vesti

Plural is -um for every gender: í svörtum buxum.

I am in black trousers.
Ég er í svörtum buxum.

More colours

colour
bleikurpink
grárgrey
fjólublárpurple
appelsínugulurorange
dökkurdark
ljóslight (in colour)

dökkur and ljós modify another colour: dökkblár dark blue, ljósgrár light grey — and they describe hair: Hún er með dökkt hár.

She has dark hair.
Hún er með dökkt hár.

Contributors