Að heilsa og kveðja — greeting, parting, and jæja

The verbs, not just the formulas

You can already say halló and bless. These are the verbs for doing it:

heilsa — to greet — takes the dative, like hjálpa and svara: Ég heilsa konunni.

kveðja — to say goodbye to — takes the accusative: Ég kveð vininn.

jæja

jæja is the single most Icelandic word in this lesson. It means roughly well then — it opens a conversation, closes one, fills a silence, and signals that it is time to get up and leave. Tone does all the work.

sko

sko is you know, look — a softener dropped into the middle of a sentence. It carries no meaning of its own; it buys you a moment.

sæll on its own

Inside komdu sæll the word sæll is frozen, but on its own it is an ordinary adjective meaning happy: Hann er sæll. And afsaka is the verb to excuse behind the formula afsakið.