Prepositions
Icelandic has a great deal of prepositions that already look like English words.
Ég keypti brauðið fyrir þig.
I bought the bread for you.
The meaning of these cognate prepositions also usually overlaps in a general way with the meaning in English. Nevertheless, each preposition must be learned individually without much cheating from English.
Each preposition takes a grammatical case: either the accusative, dative, or genitive. Some prepositions are called "two-way" prepositions because they sometimes take accusative and sometimes dative. However, the pattern is mostly regular and quickly learned. There are no nominative prepositions.
First, let's look at some accusative prepositions:
Gegnum |
through |
Gegnum skóginn (through the forest) |
Fyrir |
for |
Fyrir þig (for you) |
Við |
beside, at, near |
Við tjörnina (by the lake) |
Um |
around/about |
Um þetta tölum við (We talk about that) |
Kringum |
Around |
Allt í kringum mig (all around me) |
Next we examples of dative prepositions.
Frá |
out, from |
frá borginn (from the city) |
Næst |
Next to |
Næst borginni (next to the city) |
frá |
from |
Frá mér (from me) |
Gegn |
against |
Gegn óvininum (against the enemy) |
andspænis |
facing |
Andspænis mér (facing me) |
Next we have some genetive prepositions.
Til |
To |
Bréf til mín (A letter to me) |
Milli |
Between |
Þetta er milli ykkar (It's between you (two)) |
Án |
without |
Án stólsins míns (without my chair) |
Utan |
outside |
Utan vegjanna (outside the walls) |
마지막으로 쌍방향 전치사가 있습니다. 그들이 무언가에 대한 움직임을 묘사할 때, 그들은 직접 목적격의 형태를 취합니다. 그들이 고정된 위치를 설명할 때, 여격의 모양을 취합니다.
á |
at, on, upon |
í |
in, into |
yfir |
above, over |
undir |
under |
fyrir |
in front |
Here are some examples of contrasting cases:
Það bolti í húsinu. (dative)
There is a ball in the house. (no motion)
Ég henti bolta í húsið. (accusative)
I threw a ball into the house. (the ball was moving)
Við hlupum inn í safnið. (accusative)
We ran into the museum. (we were outside before)
Við hlupum inni í safninu. (dative)
We ran [around] inside the museum. (we did not change location relative to the museum)
Hann stendur yfir mér. (dative)
He stands over/above me. (he is standing still above the person)
Hann hoppaði yfir mig. (accusative)
He jumped over me. (he changed position relative to myself)
The preposition með (with) is similar. If you go with someone, as equals, it takes dative, but if you bring someone somewhere (meaning you are in control of taking them somewhere) it takes accusative. If you bring things with you, it's also going to take accusative, since you are in control of the object.
Ég fór með konunni minni í sumarfrí - dative (þgf)
I went on vacation with my wife
Ég fór með konuna mína á spítalann, því hún var meðvitundarlaus – accusative (þf)
Direct translation: I went with my wife to the hospital because she was unconcious
Proper tanslation: I took my wife to the hospital because she was unconcious
Ég fór með bílinn minn í viðgerð – accusative (þf)
Direct translation: I went with my car to the repairs
Proper translation: I took my car for repairs
Many Icelandic preposition are combined from more than one preposition
Fyrir utan (þf) = except
Bak við (þf) = behind
Fyrir aftan (þf) = behind
Fyrir framan (þf) = in front of
Fyrir neðan (þf) = under (you can also use undir, but then it's þf for movement and þgf for what's stationary)
To say beside you can say næst (þgf), but that is more like older Icelandic. We usually use við hliðina á (þgf).
Ég sit næst honum.
Ég sit við hliðina á honum.
I am sitting beside him