Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Icelandic

When you need to explain *why* something happened—especially for obstacles or cancellations—use the preposition **út af** (because of).

{{item:998974}}

**Út af** always requires the noun that follows it to be in the **dative** case. Notice how a neuter noun with the definite article, like **verkfallið** (the strike), changes its ending to **-inu** (**verkfallinu**).

{{item:998976}}

### Weather and Cancellations

When plans change, you will often hear the verb phrase **falla niður** ("to be cancelled", literally "to fall down"). The neuter noun **óveðrið** (the storm) also takes the **-inu** ending in the dative.

{{item:998980}}

### Roads and Infrastructure

Vocabulary for societal obstacles often involves feminine nouns. Nouns with the definite article ending in **-in** (like **ófærðin**, the impassable roads, or **viðgerðin**, the repair) change to **-inni** in the dative case.

{{item:998984}}

{{item:999001}}

Feminine nouns ending in **-an** (like **hálkan**, the ice) change to **-unni** in the dative.

{{item:998989}}

Words for a delay (**töfin**) or a breakdown (**bilunin**) follow the exact same feminine **-inni** pattern.

{{item:998992}}

{{item:998996}}

### Earthquakes

For the weak masculine noun **jarðskjálftinn** (the earthquake), the definite ending **-inn** changes to **-anum** in the dative case.

{{item:998999}}

Causal prepositions (út af)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative and the definite suffix (þetta er, -inn, -in, -ið)

Singular pronouns and to be (ég er, þú ert)

Singular adjective agreement

Yes/no questions (ert þú…?)

Basic negation (ekki)

Plural pronouns and to be (við erum, þeir eru)

Group 1 weak verbs (-ar)

Group 2 and 3 verbs (-ir, -ur)

Information questions (hvað, hver, hvar)

Expressing opinions (mér finnst, mér líkar)

Expressing desires (mig langar)

Numbers 1 to 10 (einn, tveir, þrír)

Direct objects on indefinite nouns

Direct objects on definite nouns

Singular object pronouns (mig, þig...)

Plural object pronouns (okkur, ykkur...)

Directional prepositions (um, í, á)

Verb-second word order

Expressing intentions (ætla að)

Needs and wants (þurfa, vilja)

Middle voice verbs (-st)

Possessive pronouns (minn, þinn)

Dative case with prepositions (í, á, frá)

Definite dative nouns (-num, -nni, -nu)

Dative personal pronouns (honum, henni, þeim)

Plural nouns (-ar, -ir, -ur)

Definite plural nouns (-nir, -nar, -in)

Accusative plural nouns

Number agreement 1 to 4 (einn, tveir…)

Singular commands

Past tense of the verb to be (var, vorum)

Present continuous (vera að)

Strong verbs in the present tense

Weather and dummy subjects (það)

Invariable possessive pronouns (hans, hennar, þeirra)

Accusative possessives (minn, þinn)

Accompaniment (með)

Dative plural (-um, -unum)

Compound sentences (og, en, eða)

"This" in the nominative (þessi, þessi, þetta)

"This" in the accusative (þennan, þessa, þetta)

Accusative adjectives (-an, -a, -t)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the accusative (einn, tvo, þrjá)

Third-person reflexive pronouns (sig, sér)

The preposition "to" with the genitive (til)

Subordinating conjunctions (að, af því að)

Simple past of weak verbs (-aði)

Question words (hvernig, hvaða)

Physical possession (vera með)

Abstract possession (hafa)

Telling time (hálf, korter)

Plural commands (-ið)

The simple past tense (-di, -ti, -ði)

Possessive noun endings (-s, -ar)

Days of the week (á mánudaginn, á mánudögum)

Kveðjur — greetings (halló, bless)

Um mig — where I am from

Kurteisi — please, sorry, congratulations

Ability and knowing how (kunna að)

Permission (mega)

Obligation (eiga að)

Plural strong verbs

Numbers 11 to 20 (ellefu, tólf...)

Counting by tens to 100 (þrjátíu, fjörutíu...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (fyrsti, annar...)

All / everything / everyone (allur)

The indefinite pronoun someone (einhver)

The indefinite pronoun no one (enginn)

Compound numbers from 21 (tuttugu og)

This in the dative singular (þessum, þessari, þessu)

These in the dative plural (þessum)

My and your in the dative (mínum, þínum)

Numbers 1 to 4 in the dative (einum, tveimur)

Adjectives in the dative singular (-um, -ri, -u)

Adjectives in the dative plural (-um)

Reflexive possessive in the accusative (sinn, sína, sitt)

Reflexive possessive in the dative (sínum, sinni)

Reflexive versus regular possessives (sinn, hans)

Demonstrative plural (þessir, þessar, þessi)

Definite genitive singular (-sins, -arinnar)

Indefinite genitive plural (-a)

Definite genitive plural (-anna)

Genitive prepositions (án, milli, vegna)

Prepositions of direction (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Prepositions of static location (yfir, undir, fyrir)

Question	Answer
because of (+ dative)	út af
the strike	verkfallið
We do not work today because of the strike.	Við vinnum ekki í dag út af verkfallinu.
The bus did not come because of the strike.	Strætóinn kom ekki út af verkfallinu.
to be cancelled	falla niður
the storm	óveðrið
Was the flight cancelled because of the storm?	Féll flugið niður út af óveðrinu?
We were at home because of the storm.	Við vorum heima út af óveðrinu.
the impassable roads	ófærðin
The boys did not drive because of the impassable roads.	Strákarnir keyrðu ekki út af ófærðinni.
The school is closed because of the impassable roads.	Skólinn er lokaður út af ófærðinni.
the power outage	rafmagnsleysið
The concert was cancelled because of the power outage.	Tónleikarnir féllu niður út af rafmagnsleysinu.
We could not cook because of the power outage.	Við gátum ekki eldað út af rafmagnsleysinu.
the ice	hálkan
She arrived late because of the ice.	Hún kom seint út af hálkunni.
The school is closed because of the ice.	Skólinn er lokaður út af hálkunni.
the delay (hold-up)	töfin
They missed the flight because of the delay.	Þau misstu af fluginu út af töfinni.
Before the flight left, they waited a long time because of the delay.	Áður en flugið fór, biðu þau lengi út af töfinni.
the breakdown	bilunin
Was the delay because of the breakdown?	Var töfin út af biluninni?
The elevator does not work because of the breakdown.	Lyftan virkar ekki út af biluninni.
the earthquake	jarðskjálftinn
The kid cried because of the earthquake.	Krakkinn grét út af jarðskjálftanum.
They woke up because of the earthquake.	Þau vöknuðu út af jarðskjálftanum.
the repair	viðgerðin
The road is closed because of the repair.	Vegurinn er lokaður út af viðgerðinni.
We did not swim because of the repair.	Við syntum ekki út af viðgerðinni.
We drive this big one because of the impassable roads.	Við keyrum þennan stóra út af ófærðinni.
Who went home because of the storm?	Hver fór heim út af óveðrinu?