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Icelandic

### Four Special Body Parts

In Icelandic, there is a very small, closed set of weak neuter nouns. They all end in **-a** in the singular, and they are all body parts: **auga** (eye), **eyra** (ear), **hjarta** (heart), and **lunga** (lung). 

This lesson focuses purely on mastering their irregular plural forms. 

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Because they form a unique class, they share a very specific plural declension pattern. Here is a summary of all the plural forms, using **auga** as an example:

| Case | Indefinite Plural | Definite Plural |
|---|---|---|
| **Nom. / Acc.** | augu | augun |
| **Dative** | augum | augunum |
| **Genitive** | augna | augnanna |

### Nominative and Accusative Plural

In the plural, these nouns take the ending **-u** for both the nominative and accusative cases. When you add the definite article, the ending becomes **-un**. 

Remember the U-shift: because of the *-u* ending, the *a* in the root of **hjarta** changes to an *ö*, making it **hjörtu** (or **hjörtun**).

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### The Dative Plural

Like almost all nouns in Icelandic, the dative plural ends in **-um**. With the definite article attached, this becomes **-unum**. The U-shift for *hjarta* still applies here (**hjörtum**).

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You will frequently see these dative forms when talking about things located inside the eyes or ears, which takes the preposition **í** plus the dative case.

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### The Genitive Plural

The genitive plural of these four nouns is completely unique. Instead of the standard *-a* ending, they take **-na**. With the definite article, this becomes **-nanna**.

This gives us the forms **augna**, **eyrna**, **lungna**, and **hjartna**.

Notice that **hjartna** reverts to its original *a*. Because the *-u* ending is gone, there is nothing left to trigger the U-shift!

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Weak neuter body parts (auga, eyra, hjarta, lunga)

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 organ	líffærið
Hearts and lungs are important organs.	Hjörtu og lungu eru mikilvæg líffæri.
The ears are sensitive organs.	Eyrun eru viðkvæm líffæri.
I trust no other eyes.	Ég treysti engum öðrum augum.
the surgeon	skurðlæknirinn
The surgeon investigates the condition of the lungs.	Skurðlæknirinn rannsakar ástand lungnanna.
the tear	tárið
She has tears in her eyes.	Hún er með tár í augunum.
The doctor measures the size of the eyes.	Læknirinn mælir stærð augnanna.
the hearing aid	heyrnartækið
Are the hearing aids in his ears?	Eru heyrnartækin í eyrunum hans?
Many use hearing aids in both ears.	Margir nota heyrnartæki í báðum eyrum.
The child looks at them with big eyes.	Barnið horfir á þá stórum augum.
Are the hearts healthy?	Eru hjörtun heilbrigð?
The surgeon examines the hearts and the lungs.	Skurðlæknirinn skoðar hjörtun og lungun.
The tears are in the eyes.	Tárin eru í augunum.