# Icelandic: I want to be a translator



## Alxmrphi

Hæ all,

Ég vil þyða þetta:



> *I want to be a trasnlator when I am twenty four.
> I also want to live in Reykjavík because I hear it has a good nightlife, it is also the city I want to go to to continue my Icelandic studies [studies of Icelandic]*


Here is my attempt at a translation:



> Ég vil að vera þyðandi hvenær ég er tuttugu og fjórir ari gamall. Ég vil líka að búa í Reykjavík af því að hún á/hefur almennileg skemmtanalíf, er líka borgin bara sem ég vil að fara (to), að vara í námi islensk (fræði islensk)


Questions: (I'm quite new to Icelandic so don't laugh!)


*1) hvenær ég er tuttugu og fjórir ari gamall
*
- If I was female would I use "fjórar" instead
- is 'ari' the right declension in this phrase
- if I was writing it for a female is there more that I need to change except maybe fjórir and gamall -> gömul.

*2) í Reykjavík af því að hún á/hefur almennileg skemmtanalíf*

- here, just checking that 'hún' is appropriate for a city name
- not sure about 'almennileg', it's the only definition of 'very' that I have read, and that might have been in an appropriate declension to the text and therefore completely wrong here.
- for 'to have' I've come across a few verbs the main ones being _að eiga _and _að hafa_, I wasn't sure which one to use here.

*3) er líka borgin bara sem ég vil að fara (to)*

- 'the only city', I had a problem with this because in English the word 'only' cuts directly through the noun and in Icelandic they are joined so I was a bit stuck on where to place it, is it right here?
- 'to' was another thing I don't think I've seen before, I just don't have a clue here, as in 'the city I want to go *to*...'
*
4) að vara í námi islensku (fræði islensk)
*
- I've come across "fræði islensk" to mean "Icelandic studies", but wasn't sure if it's correct to talk about learning the language, so I put the other version I know with '_nám_' in, but then I'm not sure about the adjective '_Icelandic' _here, is it correct?
- Do I need to add 'my' in like I would in English (my Icelandic studues) ?

Thanks for the help, hope it's not too complicated a question!

- Takk kærlega
Alex


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## butra

Ég vil verða (Mig langar að verða) þýðandi þegar ég verð tuttugu og fjögurra ára. Ég vil líka búa (Mig langar líka að búa) í Reykjavík af því að ég heyri að þar sé gott næturlíf. Hún er líka sú borg sem ég vil fara til til að halda áfram íslenskunámi.


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> *1) hvenær ég er tuttugu og fjórir ari gamall*
> 
> - If I was female would I use "fjórar" instead
> Alex


 
No. The gender of fjórir is the same as of ár (neuter).

nom: fjögur ár
acc: fjögur ár
dat: fjórum árum
gen: fjögurra ára


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> *1) hvenær ég er tuttugu og fjórir ari gamall*
> 
> - is 'ari' the right declension in this phrase
> - if I was writing it for a female is there more that I need to change except maybe fjórir and gamall -> gömul.
> 
> Alex


 
No.
and
no.


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## Alxmrphi

Ah, I did mean ára, I remember writing about age and I knew it had an ending, the genitive, but I remembered it ending with an -i rather than an -a.

Takk butra! En hvað þyðir "Mig langar" ??

að verða - is this also 'to be', I thought it was 'to become', but I suppose that makes sense, can you advise on when to use which one, I'd really really really appreciate it!!

[edit] how would you translate "sé" (like in sé gott....), orðabok islensks (on a laptop, accents are a mammoth task) gives me að sja', is this right? Is it like "it sees a good nightlife" ? Although you'd probably TRANSLATE it as 'has', is it like 'sees' ? (if it is from said verb)


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## Magb

Alex_Murphy said:


> Takk butra! En hvað þyðir "Mig langar" ??


_Langa_ basically means "long for". This is one of Icelandic's infamous "quirky subject" phrases, where the subject is put in the accusative case even though it's, well, a subject. This creates an air of "impersonality" to the phrase, and suggests that the "longing for" is not so much a conscious choice as something that happens _to_ you. A similar construction used to be used in English long ago, presumably due to Old Norse influence, and can still be seen in the phrase "me thinks" or "methinks".

There's also a tendency especially among younger Icelanders towards using the dative rather than the accusative for some of these verbs. I.e. they say "mér langar" instead of "mig langar". In Faroese this evolution from accusative to dative is basically complete, and a more standard nominative construction is common too.

Here are some links if you want more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quirky_subject
http://www.hf.uib.no/i/LiLi/SLF/ans/barddal/Insular Scandinavian.html
http://mar.anomy.net/entry/2004/04/30/06.40.56/



Alex_Murphy said:


> [edit] how would you translate "sé" (like in sé gott....), orðabok islensks (on a laptop, accents are a mammoth task) gives me að sja', is this right? Is it like "it sees a good nightlife" ? Although you'd probably TRANSLATE it as 'has', is it like 'sees' ? (if it is from said verb)



That's the subjunctive of _vera_. Look under "Viðtengingarháttur" on this page: http://iceland.spurl.net/tunga/VO/leit.php?id=403498

The subjunctive is, broadly speaking, used in situations where there's some uncertainty over the thing being said. For more details, this is a pretty good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_grammar#The_Subjunctive_Mood


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## Alxmrphi

Cool, I totally understand what you are saying it's really good already being quite good in Italian, familiar to quirky structures that make NO sense to an English mind, and also to what the subjunctive is and when/how it is used, I'll certainly be reading those links..

Great explanation by the way, except it didn't really explain what "mig landar" meant?
As I'm sure you'd agree, "to long for" - wouldn't make any sense in butra's sentence.

Ahh I see, I thought he was saying something like 'it's better to say..' but no, it's more of an 'I want' as an alternative option, but of course wouldn't sound as silly in Icelandic like it does in English??

*Mig langar að fara á búðinni* - *I want to go to the shop* (etc etc)

let me try another... I want (I'd like) to visit the red bear -> Mig langar að heimsækja hinum rauðan björn. (rauði björninn)
Ok I confused myself on the declensions of the separate article (which I'm also not sure about using) - I think it's safe to stick to the part in the parenthesis.
But it's the usage of 'mig langar' I'm trying to get used to.


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## Íslenskurstrákur

Hæ, I'm a 14 year old kid from Iceland.. I was just googling random stuff when I found this page, so I'm gonna try and translate this:

"*I want to be a trasnlator when I am twenty four.
I also want to live in Reykjavík because I hear it has a good nightlife, it is also the city I want to go to to continue my Icelandic studies [studies of Icelandic]"

"**Mig langar til verða** þýðandi þegar ég er orðin/n **(one "n" if you're female, two "n" if you're male)** 24 ára. Ég vil líka búa í Reykjavík því ég er búin/n (one "n" if you're female, two "n" if you're male) að heyra að það sé gott næturlíf þar. Ég vil líka fara þangað til að klára Íslenskunámið mitt."
*
Please note that I'm not the best one around to translate...


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## Alxmrphi

Hi Islenskurstra'kur...

Just had some questions about your attempt
Is "* því " just a shorter version of "af því að" ?*
*Also, "er er búinn að heyra" - is this the same construction as the one used for saying that you have done / completed something?*

*Like...  ég er að búinn i námi (I've finished studying.. .etc etc) ?*
*is this used commonly... like not just for saying you've done something, but that it has happened to you, like you used "I have heard", or basically, not heyra in the past tense but this construction is used instead?*
** 
Vinur minn er *búinn að heyra að (það?) er stórar bíð*raðir* í buðir í dag.(My friend heard that there are big queues at the shops today...)*
** 
** 
*??*
**


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## Íslenskurstrákur

1. Yes.
2. Literal translation is "I've finished hearing" but in Icelandic you can just say "ég er búinn að heyra".. so it would work in english but not icelandic.

I've finished hearing = ég er búinn að heyra
I've finished working = ég er búinn að vinna

But it's more common to say "ég hef heyrt" "I have heard"


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## Alxmrphi

Íslenskurstrákur said:


> 1. Yes.
> 2. Literal translation is "I've finished hearing" but in Icelandic you can just say "ég er búinn að heyra".. so it would work in english but not icelandic.
> 
> I've finished hearing = ég er búinn að heyra
> I've finished working = ég er búinn að vinna
> 
> But it's more common to say "ég hef heyrt" "I have heard"



Do you mean it would work in Icelandic but not in English? As the English sounds weird but the Icelandic seems right:S.
I have a problem with this phrase, I think if you could look at my other thread it would clear up all the problems with _að vera búinn að gera_....


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> As I'm sure you'd agree, "to long for" - wouldn't make any sense in butra's sentence.
> 
> Ahh I see, I thought he was saying something like 'it's better to say..' but no, it's more of an 'I want' as an alternative option, but of course wouldn't sound as silly in Icelandic like it does in English??
> 
> *Mig langar að fara á búðinni* - *I want to go to the shop* (etc etc)
> 
> let me try another... I want (I'd like) to visit the red bear -> Mig langar að heimsækja hinum rauðan björn. (rauði björninn)
> Ok I confused myself on the declensions of the separate article (which I'm also not sure about using) - I think it's safe to stick to the part in the parenthesis.
> But it's the usage of 'mig langar' I'm trying to get used to.[/quote]
> 
> Mig langar að verða þýðandi: I would like to become a translator.
> *Mig langar að fara í búðinni* - *I would like to go to the shop.*
> I want (I'd like) to visit the red bear -> Mig langar að heimsækja rauða björninn.
> 
> The quotation is fu!


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> *Like... ég er að búinn i námi (I've finished studying.. .etc etc) ?*
> *is this used commonly... like not just for saying you've done something, but that it has happened to you, like you used "I have heard", or basically, not heyra in the past tense but this construction is used instead?*
> 
> Vinur minn er *búinn að heyra að (það?) er stórar bíð*raðir* í buðir í dag.(My friend heard that there are big queues at the shops today...)*
> 
> 
> *??*


 
The construction in discussion with búinn is very difficult. I recommend you postpone it until you take your PhD.


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## Alxmrphi

Well I'm going to try and continue to learn until I know it, no matter how long it takes It'd just be much much more helpful if you could try to help me understand this!

Is my example correct? If not can you change it to it sounds normal in Icelandic and give me how you would translate it, that's all I need, and I can study that and then look around for the same construction used in other places until I can fully understand it.

_Gerðu_ _svo vel_??


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## butra

butra said:
			
		

> Alex_Murphy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Mig langar að fara í búðinni* - *I would like to go to the shop.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I forgot to correct the case of búð:
> 
> *Mig langar að fara í búðina*- *I would like to go to the shop.*
Click to expand...


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## Alxmrphi

Ah I thought it'd be '*-inni*' (to the shop / _þágufall_)
I guess because of* í *that the _þolfall_ is needed?

(The *í *acts like '*to*' and then '_the shop_' is the direct object, hence accusative, right?)


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> Ah I thought it'd be '*-inni*' (to the shop / _þágufall_)
> I guess because of* í *that the _þolfall_ is needed?
> 
> (The *í *acts like '*to*' and then '_the shop_' is the direct object, hence accusative, right?)


 
í can take both acc and dat depending mostly on wether you are on the move or stationary. 
You are going to towards the shop: Þú ert að fara í búðina (acc).
You are in the shop: Þú ert í búðinni (dat):


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## Alxmrphi

Ah I always forget that, accusative involves movement while dative is the for something stationary...

It works like the adverbs of position. (in the sense an 'i' is added for no movement, just like the 'dative' marker is also adding an '-i' to things, of course not with all declensions though)

Ég er úti - I am outside (no movement)
Ég er að fara inn. (I am going inside... movement)

I see why now it was accusative because the English is '*I want to go*_ (move myself towards)_* the shop.*.

 Ég hugsa að ég skil núna.
_(well, everything except the declension of 'nú' just there) _


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> Ég hugsa að ég skil núna.


 
This is getting rather complicated. 

Ég hugsa að ég skil núna. Should be: Ég hugsa að ég skilji núna. 
Because it is not absolutely certain that you are correct then you use the conjunctive form of the verb.


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## Alxmrphi

butra said:


> This is getting rather complicated.
> 
> Ég hugsa að ég skil núna. Should be: Ég hugsa að ég skilji núna.
> Because it is not absolutely certain that you are correct then you use the conjunctive form of the verb.



Yeah I agree, (glad I got _núna_ right!) 
Conjunctive = _Viðtengingarháttur_ ??

I think my questions have been answered enough in this thread, don't want to overcomplicate it.

Thanks for the help though.


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> Well I'm going to try and continue to learn until I know it, no matter how long it takes It'd just be much much more helpful if you could try to help me understand this!


 
In some cases you can use the perfect tense instead of búinn plus the infinitive of the main verb. 
It is often better Icelandic to use the perfect tense. 
In some cases it is acceptable or even necessary to use búinn and the infinitive of the main verb. 
If there is a certain task to be completed then you would say: ég er búinn að … . If not I would say it is better to use the perfect tens of the main verb. 
*I hear it has a good nightlife. **Here we have no task to be completed. I would translate this either in the present tens or in the perfect as: Ég heyri að þar sé gott næturlíf. Or even better: Ég hef heyrt að þar sé gott næturlíf.*
*How about waiting for the PhD?*


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> *2) í Reykjavík af því að hún á/hefur almennileg skemmtanalíf*
> - here, just checking that 'hún' is appropriate for a city name


 
You can use hún, it is perfectly correct.


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## butra

Alex_Murphy said:
			
		

> *2) í Reykjavík af því að hún á/hefur almennileg skemmtanalíf*
> 
> - not sure about 'almennileg', it's the only definition of 'very' that I have read, and that might have been in an appropriate declension to the text and therefore completely wrong here.


 
Very would be translated as mjög in this context. Mjög is an adverb and therefor is not declined. Almennileg is not usable in this context.


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