Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Icelandic

Usually, the object of an active sentence becomes the nominative subject in a passive sentence. However, when an Icelandic verb requires a **dative** (or genitive) object, that object *keeps its original case* when it becomes the subject of a passive sentence. This is known as an oblique subject.

Take the verb **henda** (to throw away), which takes a dative object:

{{item:1047373}}

In the passive voice, the noun **gögnin** (the data) stays in its dative form, **gögnunum**:

{{item:1047367}}

### The Default Neuter Singular Participle

In a standard passive sentence, the past participle agrees with the nominative subject. Because an oblique passive has *no* nominative subject, it defaults to a fixed grammatical form. The auxiliary verb (like **var**) stays in the third-person singular, and the past participle locks into the **neuter singular** (usually ending in **-t** or **-ð**). 

Notice how the past participles (**svarað**, **lokað**, **læst**) remain neuter singular, regardless of whether the dative subject is a feminine word like **beiðninni** (the request) or a masculine word like **netþjóninum** (the server):

{{item:1047351}}

{{item:1047370}}

{{item:1047363}}

### Directing and Transferring

This pattern is very common in customer service and IT with verbs like **vísa** (to direct) or **breyta** (to change). Notice how the active dative object (**viðskiptavininum**) mirrors the passive dative subject pronoun **honum** (him):

{{item:1047374}}

{{item:1047357}}

The oblique passive

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 request	beiðnin
the call center	þjónustuverið
The request was answered in the call center.	Beiðninni var svarað í þjónustuverinu.
the technician	tæknimaðurinn
The technician was reading the request.	Tæknimaðurinn var að lesa beiðnina.
the system	kerfið
The technician has to fix the system.	Tæknimaðurinn á að laga kerfið.
to direct	vísa
He was directed to the technician.	Honum var vísað til tæknimannsins.
The call center is both good and fast.	Þjónustuverið er bæði gott og hratt.
The system was changed in the call center.	Kerfinu var breytt í þjónustuverinu.
The system is closed right now.	Kerfið er lokað núna.
the access	aðgangurinn
to lock	læsa
The access was locked.	Aðganginum var læst.
We have to open the access for the customer.	Við eigum að opna aðganginn fyrir viðskiptavininn.
the data	gögnin
to throw away	henda
The data was thrown away by accident.	Gögnunum var hent óvart.
The technician was copying the data.	Tæknimaðurinn var að afrita gögnin.
the server	netþjónninn
The server was closed.	Netþjóninum var lokað.
We have to fix the server.	Við þurfum að laga netþjóninn.
I was locking the computer.	Ég var að læsa tölvunni.
He was throwing the data away.	Hann var að henda gögnunum.
I am directing the customer to you.	Ég er að vísa viðskiptavininum til þín.