Counting People with "Manns"
To count large groups of people in Icelandic—like massive crowds at a city-wide event—use the word manns.
| people (for counting) | manns |
Grammatically, manns is the partitive genitive form of the noun maður (person). Where English simply says "ten thousand people," Icelandic effectively says "ten thousand of people." It is usually paired with large numbers like hundreds or thousands.
| Almost ten thousand people are gathered here for the parade. | Nánast tíu þúsund manns eru samankomin hér fyrir skrúðgönguna. |
Crucially, manns is completely invariable when used for counting. No matter whether the phrase acts as a subject or an object, or what case the surrounding sentence requires, the word manns itself never changes form.
| Hundreds of people are starting to sing together in the parade. | Mörg hundruð manns eru farin að syngja saman í skrúðgöngunni. |
Estimating Crowd Sizes
When looking at a massive event like a parade (skrúðganga), you can discuss approximations using the verb áætla (to estimate) alongside adverbs like rúmlega (well over) or nánast (almost).
| The police estimate that well over twenty thousand people are in the area. | Lögreglan áætlar að rúmlega tuttugu þúsund manns séu á svæðinu. |
| Could you estimate how many thousands of people arrived at the parade? | Gætirðu áætlað hvað mörg þúsund manns mættu í skrúðgönguna? |
Describing the Atmosphere
You can describe the overall participation (þátttaka) as immense (gríðarlegur), or the streets as jam-packed (troðfullur).
| The city center is jam-packed and the participation is immense. | Miðbærinn er troðfullur og þátttakan er gríðarleg. |
And if the sheer number of attendees leaves you amazed (undrandi):
| The organizer is amazed because almost fifty thousand people arrived. | Skipuleggjarinn er undrandi af því að nánast fimmtíu þúsund manns mættu. |