# Icelandic: Ég heiti XXX og er tvítugur



## Alxmrphi

Hæ allur

Ég fann þetta, það er CV og ég ákvað til að þýða það á ensku, hér er tilraunin mín.
_(I found this CV and want to translate it into English, here is my go)_



> *Um mig:* Ég heiti XXX og er tvítugur að aldri, ég er útskrifaður úr Flensborgarskólanum í Hafnarfirði af Félgagsfræðibraut, ég stunda nám á fyrsta ári við Tölvunarfræðideild Háskólans í Reykjavík. Ég stunda reglulega líkamsrækt en einnig æfi golf á sumrin. Ég hef mjög gaman að íþróttum aðalega golfi, handbolta og fótbolta og fylgis vel með






> *About me*: My name is XXX and I am twenty years old, I graduated from Flensborgskóli í *Hafnarfirði* from Félgagsfræðibraut, I am studying (first year) computer science at the University in Reykjavík. I regularly study fitness training but/and I also practice golf in the summer. I am very good at sport, mainly golf, handball and football and *fylgis vel með*.


I have quite a few questions about this...



 1) I read that _*tvítugur* _means '_*twenty years old*_' but I'm not sure what '_*að aldri*_' means, is this needed with _*tvítugur*_?
 2) "ég er  útskrifaður" I wasn't sure if it should be "*I am a graduate*" or "*I graduated*".
 3) I can't find what* Hafnarfirði *means.
 4) "*tölvunarfræðideild*" - I know _*tölva *_means computer and I know* tölvufræði *means computer science, but I can't find this, it's obviously related to the education of computers but if anyone knows the specifics can you help me?
 5) Is '*að hafa mjög gaman*' an idiomatic phrase that means "I am good at / I enjoy" I assumed it might be and translated it as such, but I'd like a confirmation.
 6) '*fylgis vel með*' - I have no idea about this, I found '*fylgis*' means 'support' but the rest, as a whole, I just don't understand.
*
If anyone can help me with this I'd appreciate it so much!!!*


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## Magb

Alex_Murphy said:


> 1) I read that tvítugur means 'twenty years old' but I'm not sure what 'að aldri' means, is this needed with tvítugur?



_Að aldri_ means "of age" (_aldri_ being the dative of _aldur_). Much like its English counterpart, its use is optional and probably slightly formal.



Alex_Murphy said:


> 2) "ég er útskrifaður" I wasn't sure if it should be "I am a graduate" or "I graduated".



More like the first one. "I graduated" would be _ég útskrifaðist_, I think.



Alex_Murphy said:


> 3) I can't find what Hafnarfirði means.



The dative case of the city Hafnarfjörður.



Alex_Murphy said:


> 4) "tölvunarfræðideild" - I know tölva means computer and I know tölvufræði means computer science, but I can't find this, it's obviously related to the education of computers but if anyone knows the specifics can you help me?



_Tölvunarfræði_ and _tölvufræði_ seem to be used interchangeably, both meaning "computer science". _Deild_ means something like "division" or "department", or "faculty" in the context of university divisions. So "faculty of computer science" I guess.



Alex_Murphy said:


> 5) Is 'að hafa mjög gaman' an idiomatic phrase that means "I am good at / I enjoy" I assumed it might be and translated it as such, but I'd like a confirmation.



"I enjoy", yes. _Gaman_ literally means "fun".



Alex_Murphy said:


> 6) 'fylgis vel með' - I have no idea about this, I found 'fylgis' means 'support' but the rest, as a whole, I just don't understand.



That's kind of weird. Maybe "fylgis" is a typo for "fylgi"? _Ég fylgi vel með_ would mean "I follow (it) closely". _Fylgja með_ means "follow" in the sense of "pay attention to" and the _vel_ is just an intensifier.


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## Alxmrphi

Þakka þér kærlega fyrir Magb!! J

Regarding “útskrifaður”, you’re right, I wondered maybe if Icelandic used ‘er + adjective’ to mean the past tense, in a way like *að vera búinn að gera eitthvað* is used. But I see now it’s a past participle turned into an adjective (adding –*aður* to group 1 verbs) and is being used as a noun, all makes sense! J
The corresponding form in the normal past tense would be *ég útskrifaði*, but I have just double checked and it would have an –st- ending if it was in the middle voice (_but I have really no idea on how to use that yet, does Norwegian have it, can you give me an explanation?_) from what I understand anyway, reporting a basic fact wouldn’t require it I don’t think..

I didn’t know about gaman, I thought it meant ‘nice’, I always reference it to *gaman að hitta þig *(nice to meet you), but I like that it literally means _‘fun to meet you’_ J

As for the *fylgis/fylgi* thing, you are probably right, it fits the context perfectly so it has to be something like that! 
Do you think it refers to just football or football, handball and golf? As there’s no object pronoun can we tell exactly what he follows well? J

Thanks again for the help!!!!


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## Magb

Alex_Murphy said:


> The corresponding form in the normal past tense would be *ég útskrifaði*, but I have just double checked and it would have an –st- ending if it was in the middle voice (_but I have really no idea on how to use that yet, does Norwegian have it, can you give me an explanation?_) from what I understand anyway, reporting a basic fact wouldn’t require it I don’t think..



The passive/middle voice suffix -st serves the same purpose as the construction [was/were] + past participle in English, e.g. "I was bitten" = _Ég beist_. The reason you'd use the passive voice here is that _útskrifa_ means "write out". _Ég útskrifaði_ means "I wrote out", while _Ég útskrifaðist_ means "I was written out". I'm sure you'll agree that the latter makes more sense in this context.

The equivalent in Norwegian would be "Jeg ble utskrevet" (or, at a stretch, "Jeg utskrivdes"), although to me that sounds more like a description of being sent home from the hospital than graduating from a school. But I digress.



Alex_Murphy said:


> Do you think it refers to just football or football, handball and golf? As there’s no object pronoun can we tell exactly what he follows well?



Since he doesn't specify I'd think it's referring back to all the three sports he mentioned.


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## Magb

Also, about the _fylgis vel með_ thing, a google search for "fylgis með" gives lots of results with the phrase being used in a way I can't quite explain, so I think there must be more than just a typo going on there.


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## Alxmrphi

Hi again Magb... I didn't realise the middle voice was just like the passive...
But you are mentioning 'to write out' as a verb...

út = out
að skrifa = to write

But *að útskrifa* means *to graduate* .. (_that's how I remember the verb, the more you write, faster your chair moves out of the room and gets to the stage where the graduation ceremony is taking place, I know I'm weird, but it works! _)

Aha, I found it in the dictionary, you were right about the *-aðist* ending, but it says it's reflexive:



> *út·skrif/a* v (acc) ( -aði)_graduate, finish (school)_ ​_refl_ *hann ~~ðist* he graduated


So it's more like _"I graduated (myself)"_ than "I was graduated", that makes sense to me (in Italian it has a reflexive pronoun as well)

But I'm so glad you mentioned the passive is like the middle voice, I have had this fear in the back of my mind of how complicated my mind is going to get trying to work out how to use this middle voice!

I guess we'll have to wait for an Icelander to tell us about *fylgis vel með*, maybe gooseking's girlfriend can shed some light on it


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## Alxmrphi

I had a glance in my book and found this:

The past participle adjectives behave like normal adjectives (i.e. their form depends on the noun they’re describing)

*Hann er orði**nn** saddur* – He’s (become) full
*Hún er orðin* sod – She’s (become) full
*Barnið er orðið satt* – The child’s (become) full

*Hann er gleymdur* – He’s been forgotten
*Hún er gleymd*– She’s been forgotten
*Það er gleymt*– It’s been forgotten

*Hann er vel þekktur* – He is well known
*Hún er vel þekkt*– She is well known
*Það er vel þekkt* – It is well known

*Note*: In English you use the perfect tense where in you would use a past participle adjective in Icelandic.

*Hún er farin heim* – She’s gone home
*Hann er byjraður* – He has started
*Hún er sofnuð* – She has fallen asleep


Now I remember why I thought *Ég er útskrifaður* meant *I (have) graduated* .... because of this rule, but I guess for the context, both work, but yeah it looks like it could also be “I graduated” as well, although it’s not the ‘perfect’ tense in English, that doesn’t really matter as in the sentence “I graduated from”, because you add a detail such as ‘where’ that’s when you switch from the perfect tense to the past tense in English, so by itself it would be “I have graduated” so in essence it still is the perfect tense for what we’re talking about.


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:


> I guess we'll have to wait for an Icelander to tell us about *fylgis vel með*, maybe gooseking's girlfriend can shed some light on it



                                 It's a typo like Magb said. It should be: og fylgist vel með. ( að fylgjast með ).


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## Alxmrphi

butra said:


> It's a typo like Magb said. It should be: og fylgist vel með. ( að fylgjast með ).



Takk butra, það er auséður að þú fylgist með hér


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:


> Takk butra, það er auséður að þú fylgist með hér


 
Það er auðséð ... It is það (neutre) what is auðséð, not me! I am not auðséður!


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## Alxmrphi

Woops, what I meant to say was:

It's obvious you follow what's going on here (because you saw the question)
This page makes it seem that if you say 

*Það er auðséður* ...  (it is obvious)
*að þú* ... (that you)
*fylgist með* ... (follow what happens (what goes on))
*hér *... (here)

How can I express it in the correct way?  (sorry if I offended you)


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:


> How can I express it in the correct way?  (sorry if I offended you)


 


No reason to be offended. What you said is quite elegant except for the minor mistake mentioned.
You don’t say: Það er auðséður ..., það is neuter so the adjective auðséður takes the neuter ending but not the masculine ending. So the expression would look like this: Það er auðséð að þú fylgist með hér.


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## Alxmrphi

Of course!!  

Does the meaning change much if you use þú fylgi með? Is this actually a reflexive form, because I got confused when the dictionary said 'refl'.. but I am used to the reflexive pronouns like

*að raka sig*
*að þvó sér*

So when the dictionary says "_refl_" it's not referring to this, so I don't know, but it seems to match up with the *miðmynd*, is that what it is?


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## butra

Að fylgja með has a different meaning, to belong to, to accompany or to be free of charge, to make it simple.
Þú fylgi með is not correct. You would say: Þú fylgir með. Að fylgjast með is a middle voice verb (fylgjast) plus the preposition með. In a sense it is a reflexive form like the English verb perjure (you do something that affects yourself) but not with a reflexive pronoun. You can construct sentences with fylgjast and the preposition að (fylgjast að) and then you have a different meaning.


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## Alxmrphi

Ah, I missed off an -r ! (Þú flygir með)

So do you agree with the dictionary definition?
It says that if you use the að with the middle voice verb of fylgja then it means "*to go together*"

I get what you mean about the middle voice, it does something that reflects yourself but this isn't expressed through a separate reflexive pronoun (sig/sér etc) but rather through the middle voice, sort of like the passive as Magb was saying, I'll do a little more reading into it...

This is probably going to be quite wrong but if I wanted to say 

She is taking_(accompanying)_ him to visit us, and we are going together to the pub
*Hún er að fylgja honum að heimsækja okkur, og við ætlum að fylgjumst að á krána*.

I just wanted to write a sentence where I am using the meaning of að fylgja to mean "_to accompany_" and again where it means "_go together_", hmm..

And if I wanted to add a third meaning (to make sure I understand 3 different usages) would it be correct to say:

*Hún er að fylgja honum að heimsækja okkur, og við ætlum að fylgjumst að á krána. Mér langar að tala við Björn af því að ég vill fylgist með.*

I'm not sure if I ended it right or I need to add something, it won't be grammatically correct either but generally, is the use of the verbs is correct? I want the last part to mean "_I want to talk to Björn because I want to keep up / follow what's been going on_"

Thanks!


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