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Grammar

11 Strong Declension

The strong noun declensions discussed so far have all been formed from stems ending in a vowel. Some stems do not belong to this type, but rather end in consonants. For the most part, these are archaic holdovers from an earlier period, as is clear from the meanings of the nouns which belong to the r-declension below.

11.1 r-Stems

The r-stem nouns form a very small part of the lexicon of Old Norse, but are nevertheless high-frequency words for very important concepts. The combination of these two facts hints at the archaic nature of the declension. The nouns faðir 'father', móðir 'mother', bróðir 'brother', dóttir 'daughter', and systir 'sister' illustrate the declension. The nouns all denote familial relation, with the grammatical gender following the natural gender.

		faðir		móðir		bróðir		dóttir		systir
		'father'		'mother'		'brother'		'daughter'		'sister'
N Sg.		faðir		móðir		bróðir		dóttir		systir
A		fǫður, feðr		móður		bróður		dóttur		systur
G		fǫður, feðr		móður		bróður		dóttur		systur
D		fǫður, feðr		móður		bróður		dóttur, dœtr		systur
N Pl.		feðr		mœðr		brœðr		dœtr		systr
A		feðr		mœðr		brœðr		dœtr		systr
G		feðra		mœðra		brœðra		dœtra		systra
D		feðrum		mœðrum		brœðrum		dœtrum		systrum

The paradigms of móðir, bróðir, and dóttir are clearly essentially the same. They are all included for the sake of completeness, these being all of the most common r-stem nouns. The plural forms are all characterized by i-umlaut; the singular is for the most part characterized by u-umlaut in the oblique, with alternate forms containing i-umlaut.

11.2 nd-Stems

The nd-stem nouns appear to have been present participles which became frozen as substantives. The nouns bóndi 'yeoman' and gefandi 'giver' illustrate the declension.

		bóndi		gefandi
N Sg.		bóndi		gefandi
A		bónda		gefanda
G		bónda		gefanda
D		bónda		gefanda
N Pl.		bœndr		gefendr
A		bœndr		gefendr
G		bónda		gefanda
D		bóndum		gefǫndum

Note the N and A plural show the same i-umlaut exhibited in the declension of the r-stem nouns.

11.3 Other Consonant Stems

Other common nouns whose stems end in consonants do not fall into declensional patterns as prevalent as those above. These are collected below. As with the declensions above, these are characterized by the ending -r in the N and A plural, which may be assimilated to the final stem consonant. These forms also exhibit i-umlaut of the root vowel.

The following nouns are masculine consonant stems: maðr 'man', nagl 'nail', mónuðr 'month', vetr 'winter', fótr 'foot'.

		maðr		nagl		mónuðr		vetr		fótr
N Sg.		maðr		nagl		mónuðr		vetr		fótr
A		mann		nagl		mónuð		vetr		fót
G		manns		nagls		mánaðar		vetrar		fótar
D		manni		nagli		mónuð		vetr		fœti
N Pl.		menn		negl		mónuðr		vetr		fœtr
A		menn		negl		mónuðr		vetr		fœtr
G		manna		nagla		mánaða		vetra		fóta
D		mǫnnum		nǫglum		mónuðum		vetrum		fótum

The noun mónuðr is also found as mánaðr. The common noun fingr 'finger' also follows the declension of vetr.

The following nouns are feminine consonant stems: bók 'book', tǫnn 'tooth', nátt 'night', kýr 'cow'.

		bók		tǫnn		nátt, nótt		kýr
N Sg.		bók		tǫnn		nátt, nótt		kýr
A		bók		tǫnn		nátt, nótt		kú
G		bókar, bœkr		tannar		náttar, nætr		kýr
D		bók		tǫnn		nátt, nótt		kú
N Pl.		bœkr		tennr		nætr		kýr
A		bœkr		tennr		nætr		kýr
G		bóka		tanna		nátta		kúa
D		bókum		tǫnnum		náttum, nóttum		kúm

The noun tǫnn also shows the form teðr in the N and A plural. The alternate form for the G sg. of nátt is rare, but there are examples: sátu þeir at drykkju til miðrar nætr 'they sat drinking until midnight.'

12 Demonstratives

Old Norse makes use of several different demonstrative stems. As mentioned in Section 8.2, two different stems are used in a suppletive system to fill out the paradigm of the third person pronoun. These same stems, as well as others, were often used as deictic pronouns or adjectives, pointing to spatial (e.g. 'that dog over there'), temporal ('that day last year'), or logical ('these considerations just mentioned') proximity to or distance from the perspective of the speaker.

12.1 Pronouns & Adjectives

The demonstrative sá is used as both pronoun and adjective. Its adjectival uses range from a true deictic 'that', pointing to something relatively distant from the perspective of the speaker, to the simple article 'the', referring to a noun already mentioned. In a pronominal role, the same uses may translate as 'that one' and 'this (just mentioned)', respectively. The paradigm is as follows.

		Maculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		sá		sú		þat
A		þann		þá		þat
G		þess		þeir(r)ar		þess
D		þeim		þeir(r)i		því, þí
N Pl.		þeir		þær		þau
A		þá		þær		þau
G		þeir(r)a		þeir(r)a		þeir(r)a
D		þeim		þeim		þeim

As already noted, the plural forms are used as the plural of the third person pronoun. They may often be translated simply as 'they', 'them' in this role, as opposed to the truly deictic 'those (ones)'.

The demonstrative sjá 'this (one)' refers to something relatively close in the estimation of the speaker. Like sá, it is used as both pronoun and adjective. The forms are as follows.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		sjá, þessi		sjá, þessi		þetta
A		þenna		þessa		þetta
G		þessa		þessar		þessa
D		þessum		þessi		þessu
N Pl.		þessir		þessar		þessi
A		þessa		þessar		þessi
G		þessa		þessa		þessa
D		þessum		þessum		þessum

Another common demonstrative is hinn. Its meaning is not as strongly marked for distance, like sá, or for proximity, like sjá. hinn is often translated as 'that', but may also be used for the second referent in constructions of the sort 'the one... the other...'. hinn thus often serves to contrast one referent with another marked by sá or sjá. The forms of hinn are as follows.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		hinn		hin		hitt
A		hinn		hina		hitt
G		hins		hinnar		hins
D		hinum		hinni		hinu
N Pl.		hinir		hinar		hin
A		hina		hinar		hin
G		hinna		hinna		hinna
D		hinum		hinum		hinum

When hitt is used as an article before an adjective, the form is shortened to hit.

12.2 Definite Article

Old Norse possesses a definite article inn. Unlike English, where the article either precedes the noun it modifies or precedes the adjective modifying the noun, the Old Norse definite article is most frequently postpositive. It typically follows the noun it modifies, or follows the adjective describing a noun. In this practice ON shows a similarity to, e.g., Old Church Slavonic. The English use and the Old Norse use of the definite article do not correlate exactly, and one finds that ON often omits the article in situations where Modern English requires it. The declension of inn parallels that of hinn, and the relation between the two is often a matter of debate. The declension of inn, when not suffixed to the substantive it modifies, is as follows.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		inn		in		it
A		inn		ina		it
G		ins		innar		ins
D		inum		inni		inu
N Pl.		inir		inar		in
A		ina		inar		in
G		inna		inna		inna
D		inum		inum		inum

This form of the article is found in constructions which parallel those of Modern English. For example, inn blindi maðr 'the blind mann'. In such freestanding constructions, the difference between hinn and inn is slight, if present at all. Thus the preceding phrase may also be rendered hinn blindi maðr. The article is found with bare substantives, e.g. (h)inir augðu 'the rich'. Such constructions are fairly uncommon, occurring mainly when a contrast between nouns is emphasized. More typical word order is for the article and noun to follow the modified noun, e.g. Óláfr inn helgi 'Olaf the saint'; hendi inn hœgri 'the right hand'.

The article is commonly used in conjunction with other demonstratives. A typical rendering of Modern English 'the blind man' would be ON sá (h)inn blindi maðr, literally 'that the blind man'. Other variations are possible, such as maðr sá (h)inn blindi or sá maðr (h)inn blindi.

When suffixed to a noun or adjective, the forms of inn undergo some modification. The initial vowel is dropped when following a short unaccented vowel. The disyllabic forms also show the following changes:

• disyllables drop the initial vowel after a long vowel;
• disyllables with a single n usually drop the initial vowel also after consonants, except in the feminine A sg.

Monosyllabic forms show slightly different treatment:

		monosyllables retain the initial vowel after a long vowel.

In addition, the final -m of the dative plural is dropped from the preceding noun or adjective when suffixed with -inum. For convenience, the forms of inn are listed below suffixed to some typical nouns.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		úlfr-inn		gjǫf-in		tré-it
A		úlf-inn		gjǫf-ina		tré-it
G		úlfs-ins		gjafar-innar		trés-ins
D		úlfi-num		gjǫf-inni		tré-nu
N Pl.		úlfar-nir		gjafar-nar		tré-in
A		úlfa-na		gjafar-nar		tré-in
G		úlfa-nna		gjafa-nna		trjá-nna
D		úlfu-num		gjǫfu-num		trjá-num

The following are some examples with substantives that follow weak declension (to be discussed later).

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		bogi-nn		kona-n		auga-t
A		boga-nn		konu-na		auga-t
G		boga-ns		konu-nnar		auga-ns
D		boga-num		konu-nni		augu-nu
N Pl.		bogar-nir		konur-nar		augu-n
A		boga-na		konur-nar		augu-n
G		boga-nna		kvenna-nna		augna-nna
D		bogu-num		konu-num		augu-num

The use of the suffixed article does not preclude the possibility of another preposed article, though hinn is used to avoid repetition of inn. Hence hinn hvíti bjǫrninn, literally 'the white beard-the'. Other deictics may be used as well, e.g. hǫndin sú hœgri, literally 'hand-the that white'.

13 Adjectives

Adjectives fall into two main types, strong and weak. These names (1) bear no relation to the similarly-named verbal conjugation types, and (2) have no connotations beyond signifying a binary system. The terms Type A and Type B would serve just as well. The two types do, however, display a difference in usage. To wit, strong adjectives are indefinite, weak adjectives are definite. The term 'strong adjective' is shorthand for 'an adjective exhibiting strong endings', and similarly for 'weak adjective'. Any adjective may be declined according to either the strong or weak paradigms. The classification as 'strong' or 'weak' is not inherent when applied to adjectives, but merely describes a particular instance. This differs from the use of the same terms when applied to nouns, which are inherently either strong or weak. A weak noun is always weak; a weak adjective may also be declined as strong. In respect to paradigms, the endings of strong adjectives resemble those of strong nouns; likewise for weak adjectives and nouns.

13.1 Strong Declension

The adjective endings differ slightly from those of the nouns. They are listed below. Whenever the ending begins with u, the stem vowel is subject to the same u-umlaut found among the nouns. This umlaut is also found in other situations where the ending no longer displays u; such forms are so marked.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		-r		(u-umlaut)		-t
A		-an		-a		-t
G		-s		-rar		-s
D		-um		-ri		-u
N Pl.		-ir		-ar		(u-umlaut)
A		-a		-ar		(u-umlaut)
G		-ra		-ra		-ra
D		-um		-um		-um

The adjectives sterkr 'strong', vænn 'handsome', gamall 'old', nýr 'new', frægr 'famous', rǫskr 'brave' illustrate the paradigms. The masculine forms are as follows.

Stem		sterk-		væn-		gamal-		nýj-		frægj-		rǫskv-
N Sg.		sterkr		vænn		gamall		nýr		frægr		rǫskr
A		sterkan		vænan		gamlan		nýjan		frægjan		rǫskvan
G		sterks		væns		gamals		nýs		frægs		rǫsks
D		sterkum		vænum		gǫmlum		nýjum		frægjum		rǫskum
N Pl.		sterkir		vænir		gamlir		nýir		frægir		rǫskvir
A		sterka		væna		gamla		nýja		frægja		rǫskva
G		sterkra		vænna		gamalla		nýrra		frægra		rǫskra
D		sterkum		vænum		gǫmlum		nýjum		frægjum		rǫskum

The feminine forms are as follows.

Stem		sterk-		væn-		gamal-		nýj-		frægj-		rǫskv-
N Sg.		sterk		væn		gǫmul		ný		fræg		rǫsk
A		sterka		væna		gamla		nýja		frægja		rǫskva
G		sterkrar		vænnar		gamallar		nýrrar		frægrar		rǫskrar
D		sterkri		vænni		gamalli		nýrri		frægri		rǫskri
N Pl.		sterkar		vænar		gamlar		nýjar		frægjar		rǫskvar
A		sterkar		vænar		gamlar		nýjar		frægjar		rǫskvar
G		sterkra		vænna		gamalla		nýrra		frægra		rǫskra
D		sterkum		vænum		gǫmlum		nýjum		frægjum		rǫskum

The neuter forms are as follows. Note the overall similarity with the masculine forms.

Stem		sterk-		væn-		gamal-		nýj-		frægj-		rǫskv-
N Sg.		sterkt		vænt		gamalt		nýtt		frægt		rǫskt
A		sterkt		vænt		gamalt		nýtt		frægt		rǫskt
G		sterks		væns		gamals		nýs		frægs		rǫsks
D		sterku		vænu		gǫmlu		nýju		frægju		rǫsku
N Pl.		sterk		væn		gǫmul		ný		fræg		rǫsk
A		sterk		væn		gǫmul		ný		fræg		rǫsk
G		sterkra		vænna		gamalla		nýrra		frægra		rǫskra
D		sterkum		vænum		gǫmlum		nýjum		frægjum		rǫskum

Some adjectives have stems ending in -r. Such adjectives drop the ending -r, so that, e.g., N sg. masc. fagr contrasts with N sg. fem. fǫgr and neut. fagrt. The endings beginning with -r- show assimilation of the r to a preceding l or single n.

Adjectives whose stem ends in a stressed long vowel double the -t of the neuter N sg. ending. Hence fár shows N sg. neut. fátt. Contraction occurs when the ending begins with a or u, e.g. fán and fám, but fáir.

Adjectives ending in -inn -- particularly, but not exclusively, the past participles of strong verbs -- show the ending -n rather than -an in the masculine A sg. Compare inn, with A sg. masc. inn; hverr, A sg. masc. hvern; nǫkkurr, A sg. masc. nǫkkurn.

13.2 Declension of annarr

The declension of annarr 'other, another; second, next' always follows the pattern of strong adjectives. Some forms display the stem aðr- rather than ann-. Its declension is as follows.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		annarr		ǫnnur		annat
A		annan		aðra		annat
G		annars		annarrar		annars
D		ǫðrum		annarri		ǫðrum
N Pl.		aðrir		aðrar		ǫnnur
A		aðra		aðrar		ǫnnur
G		annarra		annarra		annarra
D		ǫðrum		ǫðrum		ǫðrum

13.3 Possessive Adjectives

The possessive adjectives were derived from the genitive forms of the personal pronouns. This genitive form was taken as stem, and the strong adjective endings were suffixed. For example, ek 'I', with G sg. mín 'of me', gives adjectival *mín-r > minn 'my' (N sg. masc.). As this example shows, the stem vowel is shortened before a double consonant. The paradigm of minn 'my' is given below.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		minn		mín		mitt
A		minn		mína		mitt
G		míns		minnar		míns
D		mínum		minni		mínu
N Pl.		mínir		mínar		mín
A		mína		mínar		mín
G		minna		minna		minna
D		mínum		mínum		mínum

The second person builds a possessive adjective þinn, and the reflexive pronoun has possessive sinn. The dual and plural forms of the personal pronouns also build possessives:

Person		Stem		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
1 Sg.		mín-		minn		mín		mitt
2		þín-		þinn		þín		þitt
reflex.		sín-		sinn		sín		sitt
1 Du.		okkar-		okkarr		okkur		okkart
2		ykkar-		ykkarr		ykkur		ykkart
-
1 Pl.		vár-		várr		vár		várt
2		yð(v)ar-		yð(v)arr		yður		yð(v)art
-

The reflexive possessive adjective sinn serves as a reflexive for any number, just as the pronoun itself. The declension of várr 'our' is given below.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		várr		vár		várt
A		váran, várn		vára		várt
G		várs		várrar		várs
D		várum		várri		váru
N Pl.		várir		várar		vár
A		vára		várar		vár
G		várra		várra		várra
D		várum		várum		várum

Note the stem vowel of várr does not undergo shortening. The second vowel of the short yðar- is dropped in trisyllabic forms, while the second vowel is retained everywhere in the full form yðvar-. Hence D sg. masc. yðrum, but G sg. fem. yðrar or yðvarrar. The stems ykkar- and okkar- optionally drop the second stem vowel in trisyllabic forms: A sg. masc. okkurum, ykkurum or okkrum, ykkrum.

The third person pronouns have no corresponding possessive adjectives, using simply the genitive forms of the pronoun: singular hans, hennar, þess; plural þeira.

14 Past Participle

Old Norse, like Modern English, has a past participle, whose formation depends on whether the verb is strong or weak. Unlike, e.g., classical Greek, which has morphologically distinct past active and past passive participles, Old Norse makes no morphological distinction between active and passive participles. One and the same formation generally has different interpretations based on the transitivity of the root: the past participle of transitive verbs is construed as passive ('having been done'), while the past participle of intransitive verbs is construed as active ('having done').

14.1 Formation

The formation of past participles in Old Norse parallels that of Modern English. There are two types of past participles, reflecting the distinction between strong and weak verbs. Strong verbs form the past participle by adding the suffix -in to the verbal stem, which in general displays ablaut. Compare Modern English eat-en. Adjective endings are then added to the -in suffix. Because of the relative unpredictability of ablaut, the past participle is typically given as one of the principal parts. The past participle kominn, from koma 'come', serves to illustrate the forms of the strong past participle.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		kominn		komin		komit
A		kominn		komna		komit
G		komins		kominnar		komins
D		komnum		kominni		komnu
N Pl.		komnir		komnar		komin
A		komna		komnar		komin
G		kominna		kominna		kominna
D		komnum		komnum		komnum

Weak verbs form the past participle by means of a dental suffix -ð. Compare Modern English ask-ed. This is added to the stem, sometimes with an intervening vowel, and adjective endings are added to this. For example, kalla 'call' (stem kall-a-) forms past participle kallað-; spyrja 'find out' (stem spur-j-) forms spurð-; stefna 'aim' (stem stafn-j-) forms stefnð-; lifa 'live' (stem lif-i-) forms lifað-; ná 'reach' (stem ná-i-) forms náð-; hafa 'have' forms hafð-. The past participle of elska (að) 'love' will illustrate the forms.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		elskaðr		elskuð		elskat
A		elskaðan		elskaða		elskat
G		elskaðs		elskaðrar		elskaðs
D		elskuðum		elskaðri		elskuðu
N Pl.		elskaðir		elskaðar		elskuð
A		elskaða		elskaðar		elskuð
G		elskaðra		elskaðra		elskaðra
D		elskuðum		elskuðum		elskuðum

For comparison, the weak declension is given below. Weak declension of adjectives will be treated separately.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
N Sg.		elskaði		elskaða		elskaða
A		elskaða		elskuðu		elskaða
G		elskaða		elskuðu		elskaða
D		elskaða		elskuðu		elskaða
N Pl.		elskuðu		elskuðu		elskuðu
A		elskuðu		elskuðu		elskuðu
G		elskuðu		elskuðu		elskuðu
D		elskuðum		elskuðum		elskuðum

As mentioned above, the past participle of transitive verbs is construed as passive in sense; the past participle of intransitive verbs is construed as active. For example, koma 'to come' (intransitive) vs. kominn 'come' (active -- cf. Shakespearean 'I am come' = 'I have arrived'), but bera 'to bear' (transitive) vs. borinn 'borne' (passive); likewise elska 'to love' (transitive) vs. elskaðr 'loved' (passive), but þegja 'be silent' (intransitive) vs. þagat '(having been or become) silent' (active).

14.2 Supine

The supine in Old Norse is rather different from the concept of the same name in say Latin or Old Church Slavonic. The supine refers to the use of the neuter N/A sg. form of the past participle in conjunction with forms of the verb hafa 'have' to form a compound past tense. For example, vega 'slay' forms past participle vegin-; then hafa vegit is 'to have slain'. Similarly hafði vegit 'he had slain'; eptir at hafa vegit... 'after having slain...'.

Historically one finds that constructions like 'I have slain a man' came about from phrases like 'I have a man (who is) slain', where 'slain' is an adjective agreeing with 'a man', which is in turn the direct object of 'have'. Examples of this are found especially in early ON texts, for example Vǫluspá: hverir hafði lopt alt lævi blandit eða ætt iotuns Óðs mey gefna 'who had filled all the air with calamity or given Od's wife to the giant's race'. Here blandit is neuter accusative singular in agreement with lopt, and gefna feminine accusative singular with mey. These constructions began to give ground to use of the supine, so that by the time of classical ON texts, the two usages are in free variation. In constructions with the supine, the neuter singular form of the participle is used regardless of the gender and number of the direct object: sýndisk nú ǫllum sem Loki hefði látit leikinn 'it appeared to everyone like Loki had lost the contest', where látit is a supine, and leikinn is masculine accusative singular. The construction with the supine is also found with intransitive verbs: ekki hafa hér komit þeir menn 'men have not come here'.

15 Prepositions

Old Norse makes exceptional use of prepositions, both in prepositional phrases and in absolute uses as adverbs. This is similar to the situation in Modern English, where one can say both 'He walked in the house' and 'He walked in without saying hello'; in the former, the preposition in governs an object, in the latter it does not. Each ON preposition governs objects in one or more of the oblique cases. The case governed is a property of the preposition: each preposition governs only a specific case or cases. If a preposition governs more than one case, its meaning may change depending on the case employed. Prepositions rarely govern objects in the genitive case; the accusative and dative are quite common. Generally the dative is used after a preposition to denote position in space or time without motion, or to denote source, cause, or instrument. The accusative is used after a preposition to denote motion to or through space or time, or to denote a point of time within a certain period, opposition, or correspondence. At times a preposition together with its object may serve as a compound preposition, in the same manner as Modern English 'for the sake of'. The primary ON prepositions are listed below, together with the cases they govern and the associated meanings.

Preposition		Case		Meaning
á		acc.		onto, on, to; during, at, in
		dat.		on, in; during, at, in
af		dat.		off, from; by (denoting agent); of, because of
án		acc./gen./dat.		without
at		acc.		after
		dat.		at, to, towards; at, in; from; according to
eptir		acc.		after (time/event)
		dat.		after, following (person/thing); along; according to
frá		dat.		from; concerning, about
fyrir		acc.		(motion) before, in front of; over, past; before (time); in return for, in place of
		dat.		(location) before, in front of; in charge of; in the presence of; ago
gagnvart / gegnvart		dat.		opposite
gegn		dat.		against; towards
(í) gegnum		acc.		through
hjá		dat.		at someone's (house); close to, next to, by; past; compared with
í		acc.		into, in, to; during, in, at
		dat.		in
innan		gen.		within
með		acc.		with (accompaniment or means); against
		dat.		together with; (instrument) with; (manner) with, in, by; among
(á / í) meðal		gen.		among, between
(á / í) milli / millum		gen.		among, between
(á / í) mót / móti		dat.		against; towards
nær		dat.		near
of		acc.		over, across; during, in
		dat.		over, above
ór / úr		dat.		out of, from
til		gen.		to, towards; regarding, concerning; to, until
um		acc.		around, over, across; during, in; about, concerning
		dat.		over, above; during, in
umfram		acc.		beyond, above, more than
umhverfis		acc.		around
undan		dat.		away from
undir		acc.		(motion) under
		dat.		(location) under
utan		acc./gen.		outside; without
við		acc.		near, by; (direction) to, towards, vis-a-vis
		dat.		against; towards
yfir		acc.		(motion) over, above
		dat.		(location) over, above

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