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by | Mar 16, 2018 | Hosta

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Faroese grammar is related and very similar to that of Icelandic. Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

Noun inflection

Below is a representation of three grammatical genders, two numbers and four cases in the nominal inflection. This is just an overview to give a general idea of how the grammar works. Faroese actually has even more declensions. In modern Faroese, the genitive has a very limited use (and possession is mostly expressed with various prepositional phrases instead). For most native speakers, the genitive is a learned and somewhat stilted form as opposed to the other cases which are learned naturally in regular colloquial situations.

Read:

In the plural you will see that even the numeral tvey (2) is inflected.

If the noun is definite, the adjective inflects weak, and the noun gets a suffix article as in any Scandinavian language (although Icelandic does not generally need a pre-posed definite article in this construction).

The interrogative pronoun is the same as above. In the plural, the plural form of the definite article is used.

Read:

  • tann stóri báturin – the big boat-the
  • tann vakra gentan – the beautiful girl-the
  • tað góða barnið – the good child-the

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns of Faroese are:

Singular

  • 1st person: eg [eː] – I, meg [meː] – me (acc.), mær [mɛaɹ] – me (dat.), mín [mʊin] – my
  • 2nd person: tú [tʉu] – you, teg [teː] – you (acc.), tær [tɛaɹ] – you (dat.), tín [tʊin] – your (gen.)
  • 3rd person masculine: hann [hanː] – he, him (nom., acc.), honum [ˈhoːnʊn] – him (dat.), hansara [ˈhansaɹa] – his (gen.)
  • 3rd person feminine: hon [hoːn] – she, hana [ˈhɛana] – her (acc.), henni [hɛnːɪ] – her (dat.), hennara [ˈhɛnːaɹa] – her (gen.)
  • 3rd person neuter: tað [tɛa] – it (nom., acc.), tí [tʊi] – it (dat.), tess [tɛsː] – its (gen.)

Plural

  • 1st person: vit [viːt] – we, okkum [ɔʰkːʊn] – us (acc., dat.), okkara [ˈɔʰkːaɹa] – our (gen.)
  • 2nd person: tit [tiːt] – you (pl.), tykkum [ˈtɪʰkːʊn] – you (acc., dat. pl.) tykkara [ˈtɪʰkːaɹa] – your (gen. pl.)
  • 3rd person masculine: teir [taiɹ]~[tɔiɹ] – they, them (m. nom., acc.), teimum [ˈtaimʊn]~[ˈtɔimʊn] – them (dat.), teirra [ˈtaiɹːa]~[ˈtɔiɹːa] – their (gen.)
  • 3rd person feminine: tær [tɛaɹ] – they, them (f. nom., acc.)
  • 3rd person neuter: tey [tɛi] – they, them (n. nom., acc.)

The 3rd person plural neuter tey will be used in all cases when both genders are meant, as in:

  • teir eru onglendingar – they are Englishmen (about males)
  • tær eru føroyingar – they are Faroese (about females)
  • tey eru fólk úr Evropa – they are people from Europe (both sexes)

Verbs

Weak Inflection

There are 4 classes of weak inflection of verbs (with some underclasses). E.g.:

  1. stem-final -a, 2–3.pers.sg. -r – kalla! (imperative), tú/hann kalla-r (you/he call(s))
  2. 2–3.pers.sg. -ur – tú/hann selur (you/he sell(s))
  3. 2–3.pers.sg. -ir – tú/hann dømir (you/he judge(s))
  4. 2. pers.sg. -rt – tú rørt (you row). In certain surroundings, skerping occurs: eg rógvi [eː ɹɛɡvɪ], I row; vs. eg róði [eː ɹɔuwɪ], I rowed.

Strong Inflection

These verbs are also referred to as regular. There are 7 classes (with underclasses), distinguished by the variations of the stem-vowel:

  1. í – í – ei – i- i; – at bíta – hann bítur – hann beit – teir bitu – teir hava bitið (bite)
  2. ó/ú – ý – ey – u- o; – at bróta – hann brýtur – hann breyt – teir brutu – teir hava brotið (break)
  3. e/i/ø – i – a – u- o/u; – at svimja – hann svimur – hann svam – teir svumu – teir hava svomið (swim)
  4. e/o – e – a – ó – o; – at bera – hann ber – hann bar – teir bóru – teir hava borið (bear)
    • o – e – o – o – o; – at koma – hann kemur – hann kom – teir komu – teir hava komið (come)
  5. e/i – e/i – a/á – ó – i; – at liggja – hann liggur – hann lá – teir lógu – teir hava ligið (lie)
  6. a – e – ó – ó – a; – at fara – hann fer – hann fór – teir fóru – teir hava farið (go)
  7. a/á – æ – e – i – i; – at fáa – hann fær – hann fekk – teir fingu – teir hava fingið (get)

Auxiliary verbs

The auxiliary verbs in Faroese are:

  • at vera – to be
  • at hava – to have
  • at verða – to be, become
  • at blíva – to be, become

Note, that vera and verða are homonyms.

Preterite-present verbs

The preterite-present verbs in Faroese are the following:

  • at kunna – to be able to
  • at munna – to want
  • at mega – to be allowed to
  • at skula – shall
  • at vita – to know
  • at vilja – to want

Adjectives

Most adjectives inflect for gender, number, case and definitiveness, and for positive, comparative and superlative.

Adverbs

Many adverbs inflect in positive, comparative and superlative.

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