# Icelandic: birthday



## Alxmrphi

Hi all, 

I wanted to write a little bit about words for things related to birthdays etc so I wrote down a few lines about my birthday and what happened on my last birthday, what usually happens and I had a go at translating it into Icelandic. Can someone tell me if it sounds ok?

*English:*
 My birthday is on May 24th and every year I like to have a birthday party. For my last birthday I got some cards and some money. My colleagues at workbought me an mp3 player. Usually on the night of my birthday me and some friends go into the city centre and get drunk. Next year I want to be abroad when it is my birthday.

 *Icelandic:*
 Afmælið mitt er á tuttugasti og fjórði maí og sérhver ár mig langar til að hafa afmælisveislu. Handa afmælinu mínu síðast ég fékk sum afmæliskort og suma penningarnar. Samstarfsmennirnir mínir keyptu mig mp3 player. Oftast á nóttinni afmælisins míns ég og nokkir vinir förum í miðbæinn borgarinnar og dettum í það. Næst ár ég vil að vera erlendis þegar það er afmælið mitt.

Thanks!


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## Le Viking islandais

Afmælið mitt er á tuttugasti og fjórði maí og sérhver ár mig langar til að hafa afmælisveislu. 

*Afmælið mitt er tuttugasta og fjórða maí og hvert einasta ár langar mig að halda afmælisveislu.*

Handa afmælinu mínu síðast ég fékk sum afmæliskort og suma penningarnar.

*Í síðasta afmælinu mínu fékk ég nokkur afmæliskort og peninga.*

Samstarfsmennirnir mínir keyptu mig mp3 player.

*Samstarfsmennirnir(Vinnufélagarnir) mínir keyptu mp3-spilara handa mér.*

Oftast á nóttinni afmælisins míns ég og nokkir vinir förum í miðbæinn borgarinnar og dettum í það.

*Oftast á nótt afmælisins míns, fer ég og nokkir vinir mínir í miðbæinn og dettum í það(förum á fyllerí).*

Næst ár ég vil að vera erlendis þegar það er afmælið mitt.

*Næsta ár vil ég vera erlendis þegar ég á afmæli.*


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## Alxmrphi

Thank you thank you!
I can see I need to word on verb + subject order, and there are a few notes I need to make on usage, i.e. _að halda afmælisveislu_ etc.. 

Thanks for the corrections, very helpful!


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## thegooseking

Alxmrphi said:


> Thank you thank you!
> I can see I need to word on verb + subject order



Icelandic is an IP-V2 language. V2 means "verb second", which, as you might expect, means the verb always comes second in a clause. So you could (to take an example from probably the last thread I posted here a couple of months ago) have "ég er feginn", but if you preface it with 'núna' you end up with "Núna er ég feginn", because the verb has to come second.

You can see this in Swedish, too: "Jag har talat" vs. "Igår har jag talat", but the difference is in Swedish it only applies to the main clause (because Swedish is a CP-V2 language) whereas in Icelandic it applies to subclauses, too.


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## Alxmrphi

Oooh, a new complicated piece of information to digest!
I'll give that a read, hopefully I'll be able to understand it soon! 

It's quite difficult for me to recognise clauses in foreign languages, I'm used to it in English but doing it in Icelandic is very difficult for me.


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## Alxmrphi

Hi gooseking, I read the explanation on the Wiki page and I think I am starting to understand it, is it right that it happens in all clauses or just ones with adverbial time references? The examples on the wiki page are all to do with 'yesterday' and other time references, like my example with 'núna'.

Is it just for these or for all clauses?


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## thegooseking

No, I don't think it's just time references. If you begin a clause with *kannski* ('perhaps'), for example, you'd have to put the verb second, as well.

*Hann er* glaður.
Kannski *er hann* glaður.


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## Alxmrphi

Ah ok, I will try and read a bit more about it and hopefully it'll all sink in.

Thanks for pointing this out, very helpful!


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## Alxmrphi

> Næst ár ég vil að vera erlendis þegar það er afmælið mitt.
> *Næsta ár vil ég vera erlendis þegar ég á afmæli.*


Can I just ask if the declension of *næstur* here is the weak declension, and neuter, resulting in *næsta*? It's just I thought without a determiner or an article you used the strong declension, and as it's paired with *ár* (neuter) I figured it must be weak declension, because the only other strong declension that gives you *næsta* is feminine accusative, which would make absolutely no sense here.

I guess my question is also valid for *síðastur* (síðari) as it seems to be weak to match with the neuter word *afmæli* and only exists in the strong declension in feminine accusative, so it seems for next / last, you use a weak delension if it's directly linked to a noun?


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## Le Viking islandais

Alxmrphi said:


> Can I just ask if the declension of *næstur* here is the weak declension, and neuter, resulting in *næsta*? It's just I thought without a determiner or an article you used the strong declension, and as it's paired with *ár* (neuter) I figured it must be weak declension, because the only other strong declension that gives you *næsta* is feminine accusative, which would make absolutely no sense here.
> 
> I guess my question is also valid for *síðastur* (síðari) as it seems to be weak to match with the neuter word *afmæli* and only exists in the strong declension in feminine accusative, so it seems for next / last, you use a weak delension if it's directly linked to a noun?


Sorry, I have no idea about weak/strong declensions, when and where we use them and what-not. Never payed much attentinon to them when I was learning about them in school...

Either way, *Næsta ár* and *Síðasta ár*, for that matter, are like that due to *Ár* being neuter.


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## Alxmrphi

Le Viking islandais said:


> Sorry, I have no idea about weak/strong declensions, when and where we use them and what-not. Never payed much attentinon to them when I was learning about them in school...
> 
> Either way, *Næsta ár* and *Síðasta ár*, for that matter, are like that due to *Ár* being neuter.



I think that's normal for Icelanders!! 
It's like the order of adjectives in English, we don't think "_age goes before colour but after opinion_", it just happens...

So...

í næsta ár (neuter)
í síðasta ár

í næstu helgi (feminine)
í síðastu helgi

í næsta mánuði (masculine)
í síðasta mánuði

Are those correct? If so then it has to be the weak declension, if they are wrong I have to figure out something else, I wouldn't usually bother but it seems like a really basic part of a sentence and one I would use a lot of the time! 
Could you tell me if they are correct?


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## Le Viking islandais

They are correct, but you would say _"*Á* næsta/síðasta ári"_ and _"*Um *næstu/síðustu helgi"_, and of course _"Í næsta/síða2sta mánuði"_.


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## Alxmrphi

Aha ok! 

When translating "Next year" / "Next month" / "Next weekend" would you include í / á / um, or just use "Næsta / Síðasta" etc?

*Síðasta mánuður fór ég í frí.*
*Næstu helgi ætla ég að heimsækja nokkra vini.*

Like this  ???


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## thegooseking

As for why they're weak, aren't næsta and síðasta _themselves_ fulfilling the function of a definite article in these phrases?

It's quite hard to claim that "næsta ár" is indefinite (regardless of the declension of næstur), because it makes it quite clear to which year you're referring.

Thinking about it in English: when we say "next year", we mean "*the* year following the year we're in now"; not "a year".

That brings up a question I wanted to ask.

We say *next year* to mean "the year following this year" (i.e. Jan - Dec 2010).
We say *the next year* to mean either:-


the year following some other year (e.g. "that was 1997, and *the next year* was 1998").
the twelve months following _now_ (i.e. Sep 2009 - Sep 2010).
In Icelandic, does "næsta ár" correspond to the former ("next year"), and "næsta árið" to the latter ("the next year")?


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## Le Viking islandais

Alxmrphi said:


> Aha ok!
> 
> When translating "Next year" / "Next month" / "Next weekend" would you include í / á / um, or just use "Næsta / Síðasta" etc?
> 
> *Síðasta mánuður fór ég í frí.*
> *Næstu helgi ætla ég að heimsækja nokkra vini.*
> 
> Like this  ???



The latter is correct, but you have the wrong case for *mánuður* in the first one. *Síðasta mánuð fór ég í frí.*

*Nf.* (Hér er) *Mánuður*
*Þf.* (Um) *Mánuð*
*Þgf.* (Frá) *Mánuði*
*Ef.* (Til) *Mánaðar*


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## Alxmrphi

Ah I thought I might have got mixed up, as with -í- it's *þágufall* but without í it's *þolfall*,

*í *síðasta mánuði - (þágufall)
síðasta mánuð - (þolfall)

I understand, this is exactly what I was looking for!


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