# Icelandic: Samband íslenskra



## Alxmrphi

My problem today is "íslensk*r* a" (það er frá titli vefsets sem ég fann í morgun)

I instantly thought 'íslenska', but then checked and it turns out it's from íslenskur instead.. and I am aware of the rule that says if you add a vowel on an ending sometimes the -*u*- disappears, and this form only exists in the plural genitive (from what I can see)

So, 'samband' I know is a connection / relationship.. but I don't know why it's in this form, and I can't seem to understand the meaning..

"Icelandic's connections" ...

This would make sense but I know that it makes sense in English because here it would seem to refer to the language, but that's a separate word in Icelandic (íslenska) wheras this is an adjective form (íslenskur)..

I am a bit dumb today, if anyone can explain what it means and why it's in the form it is and clear this doubt, I'd be extremely happy! 

(also if someone can correct my pathetic attempt at Icelandic in blue I'd really appreciate that!)

Takk fyrir.
Alex


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## butra

Samband íslenskra something means association of Icelandic something and that something is in plural and therefore íslenskur is in plural. 
Samband íslenskra kvikmyndaframleiðenda. 
Association of Icelandic Film Producers. 
Ps. What is a vefset? Is it a vefsíða?


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## Alxmrphi

Ahh it means association!
I knew the word *félag* meant 'association' and I guess I assumed it wouldn't mean that here otherwise *félag *would have been used, but it makes more sense for *samband* to be *association* here! 

The other word is vefsetur (website) right?

Ahhhhhhhh I know what happened, _það er hvorugkynorð_ isn't it? So making the genitive means adding the '*s*' onto the end of the word..
For some reason I mixed it up and had learnt it as a masculine word (because of the -*ur*- on the ending) so therefore, when it came to declining it, I did what you would do for a masculine word (remove the -*ur*- and add the '*s*') instead of just adding the '*s*'

So I wrote* vefsets* instead of *vefseturs*... does that make more sense?


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## butra

Alxmrphi said:


> So I wrote* vefsets* instead of *vefseturs*... does that make more sense?


 
Absolutely! Then it is all grammatically correct but you should use the preposition úr instead of frá.


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## Alxmrphi

butra said:


> Absolutely! Then it is all grammatically correct but you should use the preposition úr instead of frá.


Right! So when translating 'from' I should make a distinction between possession and literally... 'from' somewhere..

Ef ég skrifa nokkrar greinarnar á íslensku til vita ef ég hafi skilið muninn, geturðu sagt mig ef ég sé réttur?

Èg þekki þýskan mann, hann er *frá* Þýskalandi
Þessi gulan banana er *frá* Ástralíu.
Keyptirðu bækurnar* frá* búðinni hvar Þór starfar?

Ég er að lesa kapítula *úr* biblíu.
Það er söngur *úr* söngleikinum "Litla hryllingsbúðin" sem mig langar.
Èg hugsa að þau tækju hugmyndina *úr* bókinni að ég gaf þeim.

Takk kærlega, ég hugsa til með ánægju þegar ég mun geta að skrifa á íslensku mjög vel!


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## butra

If I comment on the usage of the prepositions only then it would be better to use í instead of frá in the sentence: 
Keyptirðu bækurnar frá búðinni hvar Þór starfar? if you are simply asking: 
Did you buy the books at the book-shop where Þór is working?


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## Alxmrphi

Right
I understand that one, I've seen it quite a lot, I think I've seen í búð as a translation of "to the shop(s)", without the added article.
What I was thinking, was that the shop where is working sells some rare books, that maybe these people knew were from his shop, so they asked if those books were "the ones from the shop where Thor works", a bit different from 'at the shop', would this meaning be correct?

Is the 'general idea' correct for the others?
Thanks.


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## butra

I’m not sure if this general idea is correct or not! This is maybe not a good example but if I understand you correctly you might be right! 

Maybe Islendingur could comment on this?


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## Alxmrphi

I'll send him a message to wake him up, I don't know where he disappeared to!
Þór, get out of the bookshop and come and give an opinion!


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## 'Islendingur

Well, I am not sure I am understanding everything here 100%
But let me look these sentences over...and don´t take this wrong, you are doing great Alex, but I see quite a few mistakes which all relate to our complex grammar and peculiar (to outsiders) order of words.

Ef ég skrifa nokkrar (greinarnar) setningar á íslensku til að vita (ef) hvort ég hafi skilið muninn, geturðu sagt (mig) mér (ef) hvort ég sé á réttri (réttur) leið?

Èg þekki þýskan mann, hann er *frá* Þýskalandi
Þessi (gulan banana) guli banani er *frá* Ástralíu.
Keyptirðu bækurnar* (frá) *í búðinni (hvar) hjá Þór (starfar)? (Assuming everybody involved knows this Þór..hehe, but in Iceland we seldom buy from, more often in xxxx)

Ég er að lesa kapítula *úr* biblíu*nni*.  (There is only one Bible)
Það er söngur *úr* söngleikinum "Litla hryllingsbúðin" sem mig langar að flytja. (eða syngja)
Èg hugsa að þau (tækju) taki hugmyndina *úr* bókinni sem (að) ég gaf þeim.

Takk kærlega, ég hugsa (til) með ánægju til þess þegar ég mun geta (að) skrifað mjög vel á íslensku (mjög vel)! 

But you are using the frá and úr pretty much correctly.
As for "to the shop", I think you are referreing to our saying "út í búð" but have to admit that perhaps you need to be a little bit more to the point. 

Þór.


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## dinji

Alxmrphi said:


> My problem today is "íslensk*r* a" (það er frá titli vefsets sem ég fann í morgun)
> 
> I instantly thought 'íslenska', but then checked and it turns out it's from íslenskur instead.. and I am aware of the rule that says if you add a vowel on an ending sometimes the -*u*- disappears, and this form only exists in the plural genitive (from what I can see)
> 
> So, 'samband' I know is a connection / relationship.. but I don't know why it's in this form, and I can't seem to understand the meaning..
> 
> "Icelandic's connections" ...
> 
> This would make sense but I know that it makes sense in English because here it would seem to refer to the language, but that's a separate word in Icelandic (íslenska) wheras this is an adjective form (íslenskur)..
> 
> I am a bit dumb today, if anyone can explain what it means and why it's in the form it is and clear this doubt, I'd be extremely happy!
> 
> (also if someone can correct my pathetic attempt at Icelandic in blue I'd really appreciate that!)
> 
> Takk fyrir.
> Alex


_*-ra*_ is the regular genitive plural ending for adjectives (strong) and it applies for all three genders. It is not in particular associated with the masculine ending *-ur *in the nominative singular and therefore any comparison with that ending only confuses matters.

Was this an answer to your original question?


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## Alxmrphi

> But you are using the frá and úr pretty much correctly.



Yay thanks! 
I'm just watching RUV news now and it showed a clip from a show (Kastljós) and in the corner it said:

*Úr Kastljósi í kvöld*...

 Which makes perfect sense now!


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