Articles

Icelandic does not use indefinite articles.

Það er maður sem heitir Daði sem vill hitta þig

There is a man who is called Daði who wants to meet you

Definite articles are almost always added to the noun (attached definite article). Showing tables containing only the endings is unfortunatly not sufficient, since the ending is not always the exact part of the word which changes when the article is added.

An example of the ending changing:

Þetta er til manns sem pantaði verkfæri héðan

This is for (to) a man who odered tools from here

Þetta er til mannsins sem pantaði verkfæri héðan

This is for (to) the man who ordered tools from here

An example of the change happening in the middle of the word:

Þetta er frá börnum sem vilja hjálpa

This if from children who want to help

Þetta er frá börnunum sem vilja hjálpa

This is from the children who want to help

Here are the words for man, woman and child without the definite article:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	Maður	Kona	barn
Accusative	Mann	Konu	barn
Dative	Manni	Konu	barni
Genitive	manns	konu	barns

Plural

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	Menn	Konur	Börn
Accusative	Menn	Konur	Börn
Dative	Mönnum	Konum	Börnum
Genitive	Manna	kvenna	barna

And here you have them with the definite article

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	maðurinn	konan	barnið
Accusative	manninn	konuna	barnið
Dative	manninum	konunni	barninu
Genitive	mannsins	konunnar	barnsins

Plural

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	mennirnir	konurnar	börnin
Accusative	mennina	konurnar	börnin
Dative	mönnunum	konunum	börnunum
Genitive	mannanna	kvennanna	barnanna

Icelandic does also have a loose definite article which precedes the noun, but it is rarely used in the language. When using this type of definite article, there has to be an adjective between the article and the noun.

Here you see how it´s used for the good man, woman and child

	Eintala (singular)			Fleirtala (plural)
	Karlkyn	Kvenkyn	Hvorugkyn	Karlkyn	Kvenkyn	Hvorugkyn
Nefnifall nominative	hinn góði maður	hin góða kona	hið góða barn	hinir góðu menn	hinar góðu konur	hin góðu börn
Þolfall accusative	hinn góða mann	hina góðu konu	hið góða barn	hina góðu menn	hinar góðu konur	hin góðu börn
Þágufall dative	hinum góða manni	hinni góðu konu	hinu góða barni	hinum góðu mönnum	hinum góðu konum	hinum góðu börnum
Eignarfall genetive	hins góða manns	hinnar góðu konu	hins góða barns	hinna góðu manna	hinna góðu kvenna	hinna góðu barna

Examples of using the definite article

Hin íslenska þjóð gengur til kosninga á morgun

The Icelandic nation will vote tomorrow

You can say the exact same thing using the attached article, it´s just less formal. Like this:

Íslenska þjóðin gengur til kosninga á morgun

You often see the loose article used in the names of organizations and clubs. It often happens when one organizations splits into two or there are two organizations which are about pretty much the exact same thing. You might have:

„Íslenska bogfimifélagið“ and „Hið íslenska bogfimifélag“ as separate clubs

Both mean: The Icelandic club for archery.

Likewise: „Íslenska skákfélagið“ and „Hið íslenska skákfélag“

Both mean: „The Icelandic chess club“.

You don't have to use articles to name clubs like these though. „Bogfimifélag Íslands“ and „Skákfélag Íslands“ would then respectively mean: „The archery club of Iceland“ and „The chess club of Iceland“.