Recent states (ný-)

Welcome to the mint. When describing a fast-paced production process or recent events, you often need to express that an action has just been completed.

The mint is very large.
Myntsmiðjan er mjög stór.
I hear the machine strike the silver.
Ég heyri vélina slá silfrið.

The Prefix "ný-"

To describe a recent state, Icelandic uses the highly productive prefix ný- (meaning "newly" or "just"). By attaching it directly to the front of a past participle, you create a new adjective indicating that the action has recently been finished.

For example, combining ný- with sleginn (minted/struck) gives you nýsleginn (newly minted).

The newly minted coin is hot.
Nýslegna myntin er heit.
The copper is newly cast.
Koparinn er nýsteyptur.

Adjectival Agreement

Because these combined words function as adjectives, they must decline to agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case. Just like standard adjectives, they take strong endings when following the verb vera (to be) or describing an indefinite noun, and weak endings when modifying a definite noun directly.

The newly cast silver has a beautiful pattern.
Nýsteypta silfrið er með fallegt mynstur.

Notice how the strong masculine form nýsteyptur changes to the weak neuter form nýsteypta to match the definite noun silfrið. This agreement rule applies across all grammatical cases, such as when a preposition forces the dative case:

The shine on the newly polished copper is amazing.
Gljáinn á nýfægða koparnum er magnaður.

A Highly Productive Pattern

You can attach ný- to almost any past participle to describe freshly completed states. Outside the mint, you will frequently hear words like nývaknaður (just woken up) or nýkomin (just arrived). Inside the mint, it describes every step of the quality control process.

Each and every machine is newly inspected.
Hver og ein vél er nýskoðuð.
There is a lot of newly registered silver in the mint.
Það er mikið af nýskráðu silfri í myntsmiðjunni.