Technical Processes: Nouns in -ing and -un
In Icelandic, many verbs can be turned into nouns that describe an action or process, like ventilation or drilling. These derived nouns frequently end in -ing or -un and are always feminine.
In the nominative case (as the subject), they take the standard feminine definite article -in.
| Is the ventilation in the mine good? | Er loftræstingin í námunni góð? |
| The drilling takes a long time. | Borunin tekur langan tíma. |
Declining -ing Nouns
When acting as objects or following certain prepositions, nouns ending in -ing take a -u ending in the accusative and dative singular.
Since these technical processes are usually discussed in the definite sense, you will mostly see them with the article attached. The -u ending remains before the article, creating the endings -inguna (accusative) and -ingunni (dative).
| The geologist asks whether we need to fix the ventilation. | Jarðfræðingurinn spyr hvort við þurfum að laga loftræstinguna. |
| They stop the pumping because of the breakdown. | Þeir hætta dælingunni vegna bilunarinnar. |
| I am happy with the utilization today. | Ég er ánægður með nýtinguna í dag. |
Declining -un Nouns
Nouns ending in -un do not take the extra -u in the accusative and dative. When the definite article is attached, they take the standard endings: -unina (accusative) and -uninni (dative).
| She talks to the geologist about the monitoring. | Hún talar við jarðfræðinginn um vöktunina. |
| We start on the drilling before we use the pump. | Við byrjum á boruninni áður en við notum dæluna. |