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Icelandic

### Small Things and the Suffix "-lingur"

When visiting a petting zoo (**húsdýragarðurinn**), you will see many adorable things. English uses suffixes like "-let" (piglet) or "-ling" (gosling) to denote smallness. Icelandic uses a very similar suffix: **-lingur**.

When you attach **-lingur** to a word, it creates a diminutive—a "miniature" version of the noun. No matter what gender the original word was, a noun ending in **-lingur** is always a strong masculine noun and follows standard masculine declension patterns.

For example, from *jeppi* (SUV) we get **jepplingur** (small SUV), and from *bátur* (boat) we get **bátlingur** (small boat).

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It can also be applied to people, such as turning *strákur* (boy) into **stráklingur** (little boy).

### Animal Offspring

The most common and natural use of **-lingur** in Icelandic is to name baby animals.

Just like in English, this suffix easily attaches to animal names to signify their offspring. A goose is **gæs**, making a gosling a **gæslingur**. A pig is *grís*, which gives us **gríslingur** (piglet). A goat (*kið*) becomes a **kiðlingur** (baby goat).

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Because these derived nouns are perfectly regular masculine words, they take the standard *-ar* ending in the plural:

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### Petting the Animals

At the petting zoo, you will likely want to interact with the furry animals. The adjective for "furry" is **loðinn**.

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When you want "to pet" an animal, use the verb **strjúka**. It is important to remember that **strjúka** requires the dative case for the person or animal being petted.

Because all **-lingur** words are masculine, their definite dative ending is always *-lingnum*. The masculine adjective *loðinn* will also change to its dative form, *loðna*.

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Diminutive nouns (-lingur)

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
the petting zoo	húsdýragarðurinn
the small SUV	jepplingurinn
We drove to the petting zoo in the new small SUV.	Við keyrðum í húsdýragarðinn í nýja jepplingnum.
the little boy	stráklingurinn
to pet	strjúka
furry	loðinn
the baby goat	kiðlingurinn
The little boy wanted to pet the furry baby goat.	Stráklingurinn vildi strjúka loðna kiðlingnum.
the piglet	gríslingurinn
Five little piglets ran around the petting zoo.	Fimm litlir gríslingar hlupu um húsdýragarðinn.
the goose	gæsin
the gosling	gæslingurinn
I am afraid of the big goose, but not the gosling.	Ég er hræddur við stóru gæsina, en ekki gæslinginn.
We look forward to petting the furry baby goat again.	Við hlökkum til að strjúka loðna kiðlingnum aftur.
The little boy waited for the little gosling.	Stráklingurinn beið eftir litla gæslingnum.
the small boat	bátlingurinn
We put the small boat on the small SUV.	Við settum bátlinginn á jepplinginn.
The goose swam towards the small boat.	Gæsin synti í átt að bátlingnum.
Is this piglet very furry?	Er þessi gríslingur mjög loðinn?
Did you see the kitten by the small SUV?	Sástu kettlinginn hjá jepplingnum?