# Icelandic: Hvað er .... Hver er



## Alxmrphi

Hæ öll 

I've put this off long enough, I thought it'd come naturally to me in some sort of explication but apparently not 
I'm used to hvað er .. (?) meaning what is .. (?) but I'm not sure when to use each one... for example you can have a sentence like:

*Hvað er* þetta á ensku? - What's this in English?
*Hvað er* í matinn? - What's for dinner?

Then in others:

*Hver* *er* áhugamál þin? - What are your hobbies?

So I thought maybe it's a plural thing, but if you say *hver er* munurinn á milli.... then that's singular, so I just don't know, is there some simple rule to know that I just haven't come across yet, I'm trying to fill in all the grammar flaws I have at the moment and this is one of them 

Takk!


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## Tazzler

Hi,

I think the difference is the same as in some other languages (like Spanish).

_Hvað_ is used to define (_hvað er sannileikur?_), whereas _hver_ is used to identify (_hvert er hæst fjall?_). Perhaps the distinctions get confused and _hvað_ and _hver_ are used both to identify, but I think that traditionally the two words are distinguished as above.


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## Alxmrphi

Riiight I think I get what you mean, defining vs. identifying, I guess I thought *hvaða *was used for identifying, but it looks like you're right, so to see if I've understood, it'd be like...

Hvað er fótbolti?
Hver er liðið þitt? (á fótbolta)

So one is defining what it is, the other is saying, out of a finite number of teams, which one is the one you support?

(What verb do you use in Icelandic to say support (i.e. football team) ?)


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## sindridah

hello , unfortunately there isnt any basic rules that i know of, of when to use hvað og when to use hver , but ill try to explain, you still use "hvað" er fótbolti ? og "hvað" er liðið þitt ? is it not like in english ? , hver = who and wich ? and hvað = what ?
"Hvað" er England ? og "hver" er höfðingi Englands? , what is England and who is the chief ? or something like that


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## Tazzler

Alxmrphi said:


> Riiight I think I get what you mean, defining vs. identifying, I guess I thought *hvaða *was used for identifying, but it looks like you're right, so to see if I've understood, it'd be like...
> 
> Hvað er fótbolti?
> Hver er liðið þitt? (á fótbolta)
> 
> So one is defining what it is, the other is saying, out of a finite number of teams, which one is the one you support?
> 
> (What verb do you use in Icelandic to say support (i.e. football team) ?)


 
First, I suppose you could _styðja_, the standard word for _to support_.

Second, you're right about _hvaða_, except in this special case we're talking about the subject of the verb _vera_. 

Based on my observations, I would stick with my original analysis. I think that people use both _hvað_ and _hver_ for identifying, but perhaps styllistically _hver_ is preferred in that case.


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## Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham

Hello!
I'm learning Icelandic and I find this extremely tricky too! Here is what I have come up with so far as regards to the words "hver" and "hvadh" and how to say "which" and "what":
1. When you want to say "what + noun" or "which + noun", for example, "what/which team are you on?" or "what/which library did you go to?", you say "hvadha + nafnordh". So I think a possible Icelandic translation of the sentences above would be 
" 'i hvadha lidhi ert th'u? " and " 'a hvadha b'okasafn f'orst th'u? ". In this case, no distinction would be made necessarily between the words "which" and "what" and the noun that follows "hvadha" is in the case that goes with the prepostion or verb.
2. If the noun that is linked to the word "what" does not directly follow the word "what", i.e. "what/which is the team that you are on?" and "what/which is the library that you go to?", the pronoun "hver" is used and corresponds to the correct gender, case and number. So you could say "hvert er lidhidh sem th'u ert 'i?" and "hvert er b'okasafnidh sem th'u ferdh 'a?" or "hverjar eru baekurnar sem th'u t'yndir?" which could be rewritten as "hvadha b'okum t'yndir th'u?".
3. If you want to ask "what is ....?" then I think think you can just say "hvadh er ....?". "Hvadh er "sannleikur"?" might be "What is "truth"?" and then "Hver er sannleikurinn?" could be "What/which is the truth?"
4. If the words "hver/hvert/hverjir/hverjar" are followed by the genitive or the preposition "af" it's because they mean "which of ... is ...?". For example "hvert fyrirtaekjanna er staerst?", "hverjar af b'okunum thremur eru lengstar?", "hverjir thessara b'ila eru biladhir?". If only two things are being discussed, i.e. one or the other of the two, a especial dual pronoun that has the exact same basic purpose of "hver" is used named "hvor". It is used very similarly to "hver" but there is a slight difference. The noun that relates to "hvor" can be in the genitive or can follow the preposition "af" or it can directly follow the word "hvor" and must then have the definite article. For example, 
1. "Hvort fyrirtaekidh er staerst?"
2. "Hvort fyrirtaekjanna (tveggja) er staerst?"
3. "Hvort af fyrirtaekjunum (tveimur) er staerst?"
4. "Hvor af b'okunum (tveimur) er lengst?"
5. "Hvor b'illinn er biladhur?"
I hope that this has been of help to you! Corrections would be greatly appreciated!
PS Unfortunately I don't have the Icelandic font at the moment so I came up with this strange format. I hope it doesn't cause confusion!


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## Alxmrphi

Hi Brauð, I don’t have an Icelandic font either, I use alt+0123 codes, don’t you?
It took me a while to work out what it is you meant but I think I got there, I’ll try to sum up.
 

What/which + noun = hvaða
2 and 3 look the same to me, both not directly linked, what I mean is, your explanation in 3 seems to also fit the criteria of 2 (i.e. “what” with a noun connected to it but not directly (i.e. by the verb ‘to be’)
.
I understand your explanation of 4, (I think), you mentioned using “af” and gave 3 examples, two of them _not using_ ‘af’, was this a mistake, did you mean to write *hvert** af** fyrirtækjanna er*…. *Hverjir **af** þessara bíla eru bilaðir*?
 
Regarding the dual “hvor”, I think I understand, it’d be much easier if there were English translations to illustrate the change in meaning if possible.


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## butra

Brautryðjandinn í Úlfsham said:


> Corrections would be greatly appreciated!


 
There is nothing to be corrected!


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## sindridah

masculine                                feminine                   neuter
nominative   ||sing;Hver plural;hverjir||       ||hver - hverjar||      ||hvert/hvaða - hver||

accusative  || sing;Hvern plural;hverja ||      || hverja - hverjar||    || hvert/hvað - hver||

dative        || sing;hverjum plural;hverjum ||   || hverri - hverjum ||     || hverju - hverjum ||

genitive     || sing;hvers plural;hverra ||       || hverrar - hverra||   || hvers - hverja ||   


Hope this can be some help for you


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## Alxmrphi

Thanks sindri, that's very helpful!



> 4. If the words "hver/hvert/hverjir/hverjar" are followed by the  genitive or the preposition "af" it's because they mean "which of ... is  ...?". For example "hvert fyrirtaekjanna er staerst?", "hverjar af  b'okunum thremur eru lengstar?", "hverjir thessara b'ila eru biladhir?".


So since *fyrirtækjanna* is neuter genitive plural, the *hvert* can remain neuter singular? Ah, yeah because it's "which (one)..?" that makes sense! 

So:

Hvert fyrirtækjanna er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (referring to more than 2 companies)
Hvert af fyrirtækjunum er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (referring to more than 2 companies)

Hvort fyrirtækjanna er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (referring to 2 companies)
Hvort af fyrirtækjunum er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (referring to 2 companies)
Hvort fyrirtækið er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (referring to 2 companies)

Hvaða fyrirtækið er stærst? - Which company is the biggest? (unknown quantity)

[Edit]: Actually, I'm thinking maybe it's possible that* hvert* in the first 2 lines could also refer to 2 companies, is that right? The pronoun *hvor *is the dual and is specifically used for that, but you can also use *hver* to mean the same thing?

So basically:

Hver - 2 or more
Hvor - only 2
Hvaða - unknown total quantity

???


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## sindridah

You got the spurnfornöfnin correct! but you never use "Hvort" , that word doesn't belong in this catagory , only use "Hvor" .. many icelanders do this error to , in matter of fact i had to search for this. 

for example : "Hvor fyrirtækjanna er stærra ?" , and "Hvor af fyrirtækjunum er stærra ?"

and for the use of "hver" , its like you wanna know who it is ? or wanna find out the bastard who took something from you , like "HVER TÓK HJÓLIÐ MITT? " and somene knocking on your'e door , "Hver er þar?" , Hver is like you wanna find out who? , like your'e brother yell at you , alex phone! and you wanna find out who it is , "Hver er þetta?" , it's a strange explanation but i wanna help as much i can , but i think you are getting to good in icelandic for me to help !


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## Alxmrphi

That's a good explanation!
So it's *hvor*, and doesn't change...

The explanation about *hver* also made a lot of sense, I think I usually thought of it like that, but then seeing it in other examples (like when you said it's not hvað er munurinn, but hver er munurinn...) then it got a little bit confusing.

But between all the posts so far I'm getting a much better idea of how to use it.


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## sindridah

Yes exactly ! it's like you wanna find out what the difference is , and you use , "hver er munurinn?" and about hvor , i made a mistake!

http://is.wiktionary.org/wiki/hvor    ... here is a link with a good table on the right side!


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## sindridah

direct from wikipedia: _Orðið „hver“ er líka íslenskt spurnarfornafn sem er notað til að eiga við  einn af fleiri en tveimur.

The word "Hver" is a icelandic _interrogative  pronoun wich is used to refer to one of more then "tveimur" ? two i guess


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