Irregular Kinship Nouns Ending in -ir
The core family words faðir (father), móðir (mother), bróðir (brother), systir (sister), and dóttir (daughter) share an irregular singular declension. The nominative ends in -ir, while the accusative, dative, and genitive cases all end in -ur (often with a vowel shift in the stem).
| Nominative | Accusative, Dative & Genitive |
|---|
| faðir | föður |
| móðir | móður |
| bróðir | bróður |
| systir | systur |
| dóttir | dóttur |
The verb líkjast (to resemble) governs the dative case. Notice how faðir becomes föður:
The preposition frá (from) also takes the dative:
Extended family words like langafi (great-grandfather) follow standard weak declensions. Here, dóttir remains in the nominative as the subject:
To show possession (genitive case), these -ir nouns use that exact same -ur form:
Direct objects take the accusative case, which is again identical to the dative and genitive:
The Word for Son
The word sonur (son) has its own unique singular declension:
- Nominative: sonur
- Accusative: son
- Dative: syni
- Genitive: sonar
The adjective skyldur (related to) takes the dative case. Notice the dative form syni:
Lineage
To talk about your family's history or roots, use the feminine noun ættin (the lineage):