Joining a secret society means navigating a maze of highly restrictive rules. To talk about exclusions and special privileges, you will need the word nema (except).
The Mirror Rule: Case Matching
In English, "except" usually forces the following word into an object form (e.g., "everyone except me"). In Icelandic, nema acts like a mirror: the exception must match the grammatical case of the word it refers back to.
If the exception refers back to a subject, the word after nema must also be nominative. Notice how ég (I) and kóngurinn (the king) stay in the nominative case here:
| No one may see the secret society except me. | Enginn má sjá leynifélagið nema ég. |
| No one breaks the oath except the king. | Enginn brýtur eiðinn nema kóngurinn. |
Matching Objects
If the exception refers to an object, it matches that object's case exactly. Here, the exceptions refer back to objects in the accusative case, so they are also accusative:
| I spoke with everyone except the guard. | Ég talaði við alla nema varðmanninn. |
| We do not dare to look at anything except the throne. | Við þorum ekki að horfa á neitt nema hásætið. |
This mirror effect is exactly the same for the dative case. If a verb or a preposition dictates that the original noun must be dative, the exception will also appear in the dative case:
| You must not show up in anything except the black cloak. | Þú mátt ekki mæta í neinu nema svörtu skikkjunni. |
| The guard lets no one in except the chairman. | Varðmaðurinn hleypir engum inn nema formanninum. |