Stig A1 · Level A1
Grunnurinn —
the basics, in order.
Sixteen steps in four blocks: the sounds first, then enough to introduce yourself, then the grammar, then the words. Nothing here assumes you have studied a language before.
Stafrófið
The alphabet · first of sixteen · freeStart at the very beginning: every letter, what it is called, and what it sounds like.
- 32 stafir — each one with its name
- Þ · Ð · Æ · Ö — the four English does not have
- Hlustunarpróf — hear a sound, pick the letter
- Hægari útgáfa — a slower version on the same page
You are here: A1. A2 comes after it — the three cases, plurals and the past tense.
Eftir A1 geturðu · After A1 you can
Eight things you will be able to do
Not “understand the grammar” — actually say these, out loud, to a person.
- Read any Icelandic word aloud and be understood
- Say your name and your town — Ég heiti… Bærinn minn heitir…
- Ask where someone is from, and answer — Hvaðan ertu?
- Tell whether a word is karlkyn, kvenkyn or hvorugkyn
- Put “the” on the end of a noun — bíll → bíllinn
- Say whose something is — minn, mín, mitt
- Describe it — góður, góð, gott
- Answer já, jú or nei without stopping to think
Leiðin · The sixteen steps
Four blocks, in this order
Sounds before words, words before grammar, grammar before vocabulary. Each page does one job, and each block is short enough to finish.
Hljóðin · The sounds
Steps 01–05 · before you say a single wordAll 32 letters, what each one is called, and the four that English does not have.
Lesa → 02Opið ÁherslanStress and rhythmIcelandic always leans on the first vowel sound of the word. Find that vowel and the rhythm of the whole language falls into place.
Lesa →What each letter actually sounds like — þ against ð, the ll that comes out as “tl”, and why hv sounds like kv.
Kemur bráðumThe letters you write but barely say — the g that melts between vowels, the f that turns into v or b, the endings that get swallowed.
Kemur bráðumWhere the air goes. The ng / nk rule that changes the vowel before it, the breathy hn, hl, hr, hj, and the little puff of air hiding inside pp, tt and kk.
Kemur bráðumAð tala · Speaking
Steps 06–09 · your first real conversationIntroducing yourself, asking someone else, and the handful of lines that go around it — góðan daginn, komdu sæll, gaman að kynnast þér.
Kemur bráðumHvaðan ertu? — countries and cities in Icelandic, and how to say where you live now as well as where you started.
Kemur bráðumAð vera, að heita, að eiga, að tala — the handful of forms that carry almost every beginner sentence.
Kemur bráðumHvað? Hver? Hvar? Hvaðan? — asking, and understanding the answer you get back.
Kemur bráðumMálfræði · Grammar
Steps 10–13 · the part everyone worries aboutKarlkyn, kvenkyn, hvorugkyn — and how to guess right most of the time. A hundred words to learn and two drills to prove you have.
Lesa →Icelandic glues “the” onto the end of the word: -inn, -in, -ið.
Kemur bráðumminn · mín · mitt and þinn · þín · þitt — and why the word swaps over when the speaker changes.
Kemur bráðumgóður · góð · gott. Why the describing word changes shape with the thing it describes.
Kemur bráðumOrðin · The words
Steps 14–16 · what you actually fill the sentences withZero to a hundred, prices, the time, and giving someone your phone number.
Kemur bráðumWord lists by subject — food, family, the house, the town, weather, clothes — each one with its gender marked, because in Icelandic the gender is part of the word.
Kemur bráðumThe lines you will actually use in a shop, a café or a classroom.
Kemur bráðumÆfingar · Practice
Reading it is not knowing it
Every drill types you back. You answer, you are told whether you were right, and if you were wrong you are told exactly why — then you get a grade and a PDF at the end.
Karlkyn first, then kvenkyn, then hvorugkyn. Question words, the article, the possessives, adjective agreement and já/jú/nei — the grammar of block III, one gender at a time.
Byrja æfingu → Æfing 02 Allt blandað All three genders, shuffled · 20 / 50 / 100The same questions dealt at random, the way they arrive in a real conversation. This is the one that tells you whether you actually know it.
Byrja æfingu →Ráð · Tip
Do Kyn fyrir kyn first and get each gender above 85% before you try the mixed one. Mixing them too early just teaches you to guess.
Næsta stig · Next level
A2 — where the endings start moving
A1 keeps every noun in one shape. A2 is where that stops: the same word changes depending on what it is doing in the sentence. It is the biggest step in Icelandic, and it is the one worth taking slowly.
- Þolfall — the accusative
- Þágufall — the dative
- Eignarfall — the genitive
- Forsetningar — prepositions that take a case
- Fleirtala — plurals
- Þátíð — the past tense
- Stigbreyting — bigger, biggest
- Sterk og veik beyging — strong and weak adjectives