Old Norse for Beginners – Lesson Eleven

1.1 Neuter Gender: Strong Declension

Old Norse has three genders: Masculine, feminine, and neuter. This distinction, and the terms used, is mostly arbitrary, and should not be taken too seriously. Until now, we have only worked with “strong masculine” nouns, the largest and most diverse declension in the language. Another large declension group is the “strong neuter”. A typical noun of this type declines like this:

hús (n) house
sg pl
nom hús- hús-
acc hús- hús-
dat hús-i hús-um
gen hús-s hús-a

As you can see, very similar to the strong masculine, only with fewer endings. Here’s an important rule about the neuter, to help you learn its declension:
The neuter never makes a distinction, in its forms, between nominative and accusative.
Which can be seen in the declension above. It would seem from the word “hús”, above, that there is no distinction between plural and singular, at least not in nom and acc; however, a word with ‘a’ as a stem syllable declines like this:

lag (n) (combat) strike, attempt; relations; layer; tune, melody
sg pl
nom lag- lög-
acc lag- lög-
dat lag-i lög-um
gen lag-s lag-a

There we have an “invisible” u-umlaut, i.e. an umlaut without any apparent ending to cause it. This is because the original -u ending, which caused the umlaut, was later dropped, though the umlaut remained. All strong neuters with an ‘a’ in the stem are declined like “lag”.
When introducing words in this and all future lessons, the gender will be indicated in parentheses immediately following the word (m = masculine, f = feminine, n = neuter).

1.2 Adjectives: Indefinite Neuter Forms

Now that we’ve introduced a neuter declension, we need to learn the adjective forms that go with it. The adjective declension that we have been using until now, can be used only with (indefinite) masculine nouns. This declension is for (indefinite) neuter nouns:

sg pl
nom stór-t stór-
acc stór-t stór-
dat stór-u stór-um
gen stór-s stór-ra

And in the case of an adjective with a stem ‘a’: sg pl
nom rag-t rög-
acc rag-t rög-
dat rög-u rög-um
gen rag-s rag-ra

Assimilation also occurs as per masculine adjectives (in the gen pl): sg pl
nom grœn-t grœn-acc grœn-t grœn-dat grœn-u grœn-umgen grœn-s grœn-na

Adjectives whose stems end in ‘ð’ feature an assimilation of the ‘ð’ to the -t ending. Our example adjective, “góðr”, has an irregularity in that its vowel shortens in the nom and acc sg:

sg pl
nom got-t góð-
acc got-t góð-
dat góð-u góð-um
gen góð-s góð-ra

Finally, adjectives whose stems end in vowels feature a doubled -t ending:
hár high
sg pl
nom há-t-t há-
acc há-t-t há-
dat há-u há-m
gen há-s há-ra

To the students’ ease, we will list new adjectives with both their masculine and neuter forms, to begin with. The dictionary tradition [hvað er Óskar að tala um?], however, is to use the strong feminine (which has no endings in nominative, thus displaying the naked stem); that will be adopted once we have introduced the strong feminine declension.

1.3 Neuter Article

The neuter article declines:

sg pl
nom i-t in-
acc i-t in-
dat in-u in-um
gen in-s in-na

Attached to a strong neuter noun:

sg pl
nom hús-i-t hús-in-
acc hús-i-t hús-in-
dat hús-in-u hús-unum
gen hús-s-in-s hús-a-n-na

1.4 Possessive Pronouns: Neuter Forms

sg pl
nom mit-t mín-
acc mit-t mín-
dat mín-u mín-um
gen mín-s min-na

* The ‘n’ of the stem is assimilated to the -t ending, in nom sg and acc sg
* The same shortening of the vowel, before the doubles ‘tt’ and ‘nn’
sg pl
nom okk-ar-t okk-ur-
acc okk-ar-t okk-ur-
dat okk-r-u okk-r-um
gen okk-ar-s okk-ar-ra