# Icelandic: hver



## draugurinn

Geta "hver" vera _who, which, _og _what _eða hvað annað er það? 

Takk... íslenska er erfið fyrir mig. I need really simple things explained to me sometimes..


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## kepulauan

Well standing alone as an interrogative pronoun, "hver" can only mean "who" as you can see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_grammar#Questions. The word "hvert" can be used for all three in some instances but it's formal speech and gone into disuse.

But _hver_ can also take other forms like the indefinite pronouns as discussed in a recent post http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1660767.


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## Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham

Hello, draugurinn!
My native language is not Icelandic so the following might be wrong. According to what I have studied 'hver' means 'which' in the following sentences:
Hvert barnanna kom fyrst? - Which of the children came first?
Hver af mönnunum er vingjarnlegastur? - Which of the men is most friendly?
Hver kvennanna er hressust? - Which of the woman is most spirited?
Með hverjum þeirra ætlar þú að fara? - Which of them are you going to go with?
That is to say, in sentences that are 'which of ...' in English. When 'hver' means 'which' and is in the neuter it is 'hvert' but when it means 'what' it is 'hvað'. Hver also means 'who(m)' in sentences like these:
1. Hvers saknar þú mest? - Whom do you miss most?
2. Hver syrgir föður minn? - Who mourns my father?
3. Hvern syrgir faðir minn? - Whom does my father mourn?
4. Hver grætur svona hátt á næturnar? - Who cries so loudly at night?
Usually 'hver' is in the masculine but if the speaker knows that the person they're inquiring about is an woman then it can be in the feminine. For example:
1. A: Ég sakna Dísu. B: Hverrar saknar þú? - A: I miss Dísa. B: Whom do you miss?
2. A: Íbúar bæjarins ætla að grýta Hallgerði því að þeir halda að hún sé galdranorn.
B: Hvað ætla þeir að gera við hverja? - A: The towns inhabitants are going to stone Hallgerður because they think that she is a witch. B: What are they going to do to whom?

I hope that this has be of help to you!
P.S. I would be very greatful if an Icelander could correct or confirm the above sentences! Thank you very much!


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## Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham

By the way, to say "what man?", "what book?", or "what backpack?" in Icelandic the word "hvaða' is used and the previous sentences would be 'hvaða maður?', 'hvaða bók?' and 'hvaða bakpoki?' However, in sentences where the word 'what' is separated from the noun it refers to, the word 'hver' is used. For example:
Hver er kennitalan þín? - What is your identity number?
Hver er uppáhaldsbókin þín? - What is your favorite book?
Hvert er símanúmerið hjá honum? - What is his phone number?
The last sentence can also be 'hvað er símanúmerið hjá honum?'. As pollodia said 'hvert' is more formal than 'hvað'.


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## Alxmrphi

> However, in sentences where the word 'what' is separated from the noun it refers to, the word 'hver' is used. For example:


I didn't know that!
Thanks for pointing that out, I imagine that'd be a mistake I'd repeatedly make!
I think the best way to explain_ hvaða _is by comparing it to "which", providing a choice of a selection of possibilities, that's how I got used to it.

"Which is your favourite book?" (out of all the books that exist) etc etc
Hvaða eru uppáhaldsborgirnar þínar? (out of all the towns in Iceland etc..)

_*runs to look up all the words he doesn't know from the examples given *_


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## Pont neuf

It might be interesting for you to know that the title of Hemingway´s novel Whom the Bell Tolls was translated into Icelandic as 'Hverjum klukkan glymur'.


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## kepulauan

> Hver er kennitalan þín? - What is your identity number?
> Hver er uppáhaldsbókin þín? - What is your favorite book?
> Hvert er símanúmerið hjá honum? - What is his phone number?
> The last sentence can also be 'hvað er símanúmerið hjá honum?'. As pollodia said 'hvert' is more formal than 'hvað'.


_Hvert _is not overly formal inside a sentence like that, in fact it sounds excellent! 
Actually more and more people say "hvað er kennitalan þín" or "hvað er uppáhald bókin þín" but your system will be much appreciated. I highly recommend it.



> Hvaða eru uppáhaldsborgirnar þínar? (out of all the towns in Iceland etc..)


 I'm afraid this doesn't work. It's either "hverjar eru uppáhalds borgirnar þínar?" or "hvaða borgir eru þínar uppáhalds?". Why? I don't know, this is getting me dizzy.


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## Alxmrphi

> I'm afraid this doesn't work. It's either "hverjar eru uppáhalds borgirnar þínar?" or "hvaða borgir eru þínar uppáhalds?". Why? I don't know, this is getting me dizzy.


Is there possibly a distinction between the singular and plural?

Hvaða er uppáhaldsdýrið þitt?
Hvaða eru uppáhalds dýrin þín?

I think it's safer to use the separated version while I get used to it anyway 
(Sorry for dizzy )


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## Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham

I think the reason why you can't say "Hvaða eru uppáhaldsborgirnar þínar?" is because "hvaða" almost always has to be directly followed by a noun so "hvaða borgir eru þínar uppáhalds?" is correct because "borgir" immediately follows "hvaða". If one wants to say "which of these cities is your favorite?" I think it it would be correct to say "hver þessara borga er þín uppáhalds?" or "hver af þessum borgum er þín uppáhalds?". But I'm not complelety sure about this so I'd need an Icelander to confirm. There is another pronoun that maybe you're aware of that is less common than "hver" but has a very similar mean named "hvor". "Hvor" also means which and is used very similarily to "hver" but it's only used when there are exclusively two things being discussed and is a fragment of the archaic "dual" that existed in Old Icelandic/Norse in the personal pronouns. Here are some examples of "hvor":
1. Hvort barnið grætur hæst? - Which of the (two) children cries the loudest?
2. Hvor konan er komin? - Which of the (two) women has arrieved?
3. Við hvorn manninn varst þú að spjalla? - With which if the (two) men were you chatting?
You reword the previous sentences like this as well:
1. Hvort barnanna (tveggja) grætur hæst? - Which of the (two) children cries the loudest?
2. Hvor kvennanna (tveggja) er komin? - Which of the (two) women has arrieved?
3. Við hvorn mannanna (tveggja) varst þú að spjalla? - With which if the (two) men were you chatting?
You can negate these sentences like this:
1. Hvorugt barnið grætur hátt - Neither of the children cries loudly.
2. Hvorug konan er kominn - Neither of the women has arrieved
3. Ég var að spjalla við hvorugan manninn. - I was chatting with neither of the men.
You can also negate these sentences like this:
1. Hvorugt barnanna grætur hátt - Neither of the children cries loudly.
2. Hvorug kvennanna er kominn - Neither of the women has arrieved
3. Ég var að spjalla við hvorugan mannanna. - I was chatting with neither of the men.


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## Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham

I don't think that the number of the noun makes a difference. I think it's better to say
Hvert er uppáhaldsdýrið þitt? and Hver eru uppáhalds dýrin þín? instead of Hvaða er uppáhaldsdýrið þitt? and Hvaða eru uppáhalds dýrin þín?. Here are some more examples:
1. Hver er uppáhaldssjónvarpsstöðin þín? - Which (or: what) is your favorite TV-channel?
2. Í hverri þessara borga líður þér best?
or
Í hverri af þessum borgum líður þér best? - In which of these cities to feel best?
3. Með hvorri hendinni skrifar þú? - With which (of your two) hand(s) do you write?
4. Hvaða mann ætlar þú skera á háls? - Which man's throat are you going to slit?
5. Hvaða brauðrist verður notuð til að rista þessar brauðsneiðar? - What toaster will be used to toast these slices of bread?
6. Hverjar af bókunum sem ég nefndi hefur þú lesið? - Which of the books that I mentioned have you read?
7. Hver er uppáhaldsveitingastaðurinn þinn á Íslandi? - Which is your favorite restaurant in Iceland?


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## kepulauan

Ok I think I'm getting a clue. _Which_ and _which_ is not the same word (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative_word), one is a pronoun while the other is a determiner. If you click _determiner_ in the link there is an example: _*"Which* book is that?"_ which translates as "hvaða bók er þetta?". It is different from a sentence like "which is your favorite animal?" where the pronoun inflects according to the noun like this http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurnarfornafn, thus "hvert er uppáhalds dýrið þitt". _Hvaða_ does not inflect at all.


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