The following prepositions govern the accusative case:
Um – about
Gegnum – through
Kringum – around
Við – at, against
The following prepositions govern the dative case:
Að – towards
Frá – from
Af – off
Úr – out of
Nálægt – near
The following prepositions govern the genitive case:
Til – to
Án – without
Milli – between
Vegna – because of
Prepositions governing more than one case:
Í and dative – in
Í and accusative – into
Á and dative – on
Á and accusative – onto
Undir and dative – under
Undir and accusative – going under
Með and dative – means “with” but in an instrumental sense
Með and accusative – means “with" as in bringing
When it comes to directions, Icelandic most resembles Old English, with different forms of directions depending on whether you are going, coming or already there. English lost this distinction over time, but due to its geographical isolation, changes in other languages have had little effect on Icelandic. This is very extreme, with Icelanders being able to read sagas in Old Norse with no difficulty at all. It is often said that Icelandic is Old Norse with a few variations in pronunciation and a slightly different spelling system.
It is very important to note that the directions are always given in relation to the position of the speaker.
Left – vinstri
Right – hægri
Straight ahead – Beint áfram
Back – tilbaka
Here – hér (na)
From here – héðan
To here – hingað
There – þarna
From there – þaðan
To there – þangað
Where (not a question) – þar sem
Up – upp
Down – niður
All ready up at – uppi
All ready down at – niðri
If any of the words for up or down are followed by a vowel, the vowel at the end of the words for up or down will be replaced with an apostrophe: upp´á.
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