Faroese grammar

Grammar of the Faroese language

Faroese grammar is typical of a North Germanic language; Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

## Noun inflection

[edit]

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:

* hvør, hvat? interrogative pronoun "who, what?"
* ein indefinite article "a"
* stórur adjective "big"
* bátur noun "boat"
* ein stórur bátur – a big boat (m.)
* ein vøkur genta – a beautiful girl (f.)
* eitt gott barn – a good child (n.)

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

Indefinite phrases

Singular | ?  | Masculine  | ?  | Feminine  | ?  | Neuter
Nominative  | hvør?  | ein stórur bátur | hvør?  | ein vøkur genta | hvat?  | eitt gott barn
Accusative  | hvønn?  | ein stóran bát  | hvørja?  | eina vakra gentu | hvat?  | eitt gott barn
Dative  | hvørjum?  | einum stórum báti | hvørj(ar)i?  | einari vakari gentu | hvørjum?  | einum góðum barni
Genitive  | hvørs?  | (eins stórs báts)  | hvørjar?  | (einar vakrar gentu)  | hvørs?  | (eins góðs barns)
Plural | ?  | Masculine  | ?  | Feminine  | ?  | Neuter
Nominative  | hvørjir?  | tveir stórir bátar | hvørjar?  | tvær vakrar gentur | hvørji?  | tvey góð børn
Accusative  | hvørjar?  | tveir stórar bátar | hvørjar?  | tvær vakrar gentur | hvørji?  | tvey góð børn
Dative  | hvørjum?  | tveimum stórum bátum | hvørjum?  | tveimum vøkrum gentum | hvørjum?  | tveimum góðum børnum
Genitive  | hvørja?  | (tveggja stóra báta)  | hvørja?  | (tveggja vakra genta)  | hvørja?  | (tveggja góða barna)

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

Definite phrases

Singular | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter
Nominative  | tann stóri báturin | tann vakra gentan | tað góða barnið
Accusative  | tann stóra bátin | ta vøkru gentuna | tað góða barnið
Dative  | tí stóra bátinum | tí vøkru gentuni | tí góða barninum
Genitive  | (tess stóra bátsins)  | (teirrar vøkru gentunnar)  | (tess góða barnsins)
Plural | Masculine  | Feminine  | Neuter
Nominative  | teir stóru bátarnir | tær vøkru genturnar | tey góðu børnini
Accusative  | teir stóru bátarnar | tær vøkru genturnar | tey góðu børnini
Dative  | teimum stóru bátunum | teimum vøkru gentunum | teimum góðu børnunum
Genitive  | (teirra stóru bátanna)  | (teirra vøkru gentunna)  | (teirra góðu barnanna)

### Personal Pronouns

[edit]

The personal pronouns of Faroese are:

Personal pronouns

Singular | 1\.  | 2\.  | 3\. m | 3\. f | 3\. n
Nominative  | eg | tú | hann | hon | tað
Accusative  | meg  | teg  | hana
Dative  | mær  | tær  | honum  | henni  | tí
Genitive  | mín  | tín  | hansara  | hennara  | tess
Plural | 1\.  | 2\.  | 3\. m | 3\. f | 3\. n
Nominative  | vit | tit | teir | tær | tey
Accusative  | okkum  | tykkum
Dative  | teimum
Genitive  | okkara  | tykkara  | teirra

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

[edit]

### Weak Inflection

[edit]

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.

Weak Inflection

Infinitive  | 1\. kalla | 2\. selja | 3\. døma | 4\. rógva
Singular | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st pers.  | kalli | kallaði | selji | seldi | dømi | dømdi | rógvi | róði
2nd pers.  | kallar | kallaði | selur | seldi | dømir | dømdi | rørt | róði
3rd pers.  | kallar | kallaði | selur | seldi | dømir | dømdi | rør | róði
Plural | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.  | kalla | kallaðu | selja | seldu | døma | dømdu | rógva | róðu
Supine | kallað | selt | dømt | róð

### Strong Inflection

[edit]

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)

Strong Inflection

Infinitive  | 1\. bíta | 2\. bróta | 3\. svimja | 4\. koma | 5\. liggja | 6\. fara | 7\. fáa
Singular | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st pers.  | bíti | beit  | bróti | breyt  | svimji | svam  | komi | kom  | liggi | lá  | fari | fór  | fái | fekk
2nd pers.  | bítur | beitst | brýtur | breytst | svimur | svamst | kemur | komst | liggur | lást | fert | fórt | fært | fekst
3rd pers.  | bítur | beit  | brýtur | breyt  | svimur | svam  | kemur | kom  | liggur | lá  | fer  | fór  | fær  | fekk
Plural | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.  | bíta | bitu | bróta | brutu | svimja | svumu | koma | komu | liggja | lógu | fara | fóru | fáa | fingu
Supine | bitið | brotið | svomið | komið | ligið | farið | fingið

### Auxiliary verbs

[edit]

The auxiliary verbs in Faroese are:

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

Auxiliary verbs

Infinitive  | 1\. vera | 2\. hava | 3\. verða | 4\. blíva
Singular | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st pers.  | eri | var  | havi | hevði | verði | varð  | blívi | bleiv
2nd pers.  | ert | vart | hevur | hevði | verður | varðst | blívur | bleivst
3rd pers.  | er  | var  | hevur | hevði | verður | varð  | blívur | bleiv
Plural | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.  | eru | vóru | hava | høvdu | verða | vórðu | blíva | blivu
Supine | verið | havt | verðið | blivið

Note, that vera and verða are homonyms.

### Preterite-present verbs

[edit]

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

Preterite-present verbs

Infinitive  | 1\. kunna | 2\. munna | 3\. mega | 4\. skula | 5\. vita | 6\. vilja
Singular | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st pers.  | kann  | kundi | man  | mundi | má  | mátti | skal  | skuldi | veit  | visti | vil  | vildi
2nd pers.  | kanst | kundi | manst | mundi | mást | mátti | skalt | skuldi | veitst | visti | vilt | vildi
3rd pers.  | kann  | kundi | man  | mundi | má  | mátti | skal  | skuldi | veit  | visti | vil  | vildi
Plural | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past  | Present  | Past
1st, 2nd, 3rd pers.  | kunnu/
kunna | kundu | munnu/
munna | mundu | mugu/
mega | máttu | skulu/
skula | skuldu | vita | vistu | vilja | vildu
Supine | kunnað | munnað | megað | skulað | vitað | viljað

## Adjectives

[edit]

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

## Adverbs

[edit]

Many adverbs inflect in positive, comparative and superlative.

## External links

[edit]

* Faroese online syntactic analyser and morphological analyser/generator

* v
* t
* e

Grammars of the world's languages

* Phonologies
* Orthographies
* Grammars
* Adjectives
* Determiners
* Nouns
* Prepositions
* Pronouns
* Verbs

Indo-European|

| Germanic|

* Afrikaans
* Danish
* Dutch
* English
* Old
* Faroese
* German
* Icelandic
* Norwegian
* Old Norse
* Ripuarian
* Swedish
* West Frisian
* Yiddish

|

Celtic|

* Breton
* Cornish
* Irish
* Old
* Manx
* Scottish Gaelic
* Welsh
* colloquial
* literary

Italic|

* Catalan
* Dalmatian
* French
* Istro-Romanian
* Italian
* Latin
* Lombard
* Eastern
* Western
* Portuguese
* Romanian
* Spanish
* Venetian

Baltic|

* Latvian
* Lithuanian

Slavic|

* Belarusian
* Bulgarian
* Czech
* Macedonian
* Old Church Slavonic
* Polish
* Russian
* Silesian
* Serbo-Croatian
* Slovak
* Slovene
* Slovincian
* Ukrainian

Iranian|

* Kurdish
* Sorani
* Pashto
* Persian
* Tajik

Indo-Aryan|

* Bengali
* Bhojpuri
* Gujarati
* Hindustani
* Maithili
* Marathi
* Nepali
* Odia
* Punjabi
* Sanskrit
* Vedic

Other|

* Albanian
* Greek
* Ancient
* Koine
* Hittite

Uralic|

* Estonian
* Finnish
* Hungarian
* Ingrian
* Komi
* Livonian
* Meänkieli
* Udmurt

Turkic|

* Kazakh
* Kyrgyz
* Tatar
* Turkish
* Turkmen
* Uyghur
* Uzbek
* Yakut

Other European|

* Abkhaz
* Adyghe
* Basque
* Georgian
* Kabardian
* Laz
* Mingrelian
* Ubykh

Afroasiatic|

* Arabic
* Levantine
* Central Atlas Tamazight
* Hebrew
* Historical
* Kabyle
* Somali
* Tigrinya
* Ugaritic

Niger–Congo|

* Fula
* Pular
* Herero
* Sotho
* Swahili
* Zulu

Dravidian|

* Kannada
* Malayalam
* Tamil
* Telugu

Japonic|

* Japanese
* Classical
* Okinawan
* Hachijō

Sino-Tibetan|

* Burmese
* Cantonese
* Classical Chinese
* Dzongkha
* Kokborok (Tripuri)
* Mandarin Chinese
* Meitei (Manipuri)
* Mizo
* Tibetan

Austroasiatic|

* Khmer
* Vietnamese

Kra–Dai|

* Has Hlai
* Lao
* Thai

Other East Asian|

* Evenki
* Korean
* Mongolian

Austronesian|

* Cebuano
* Hawaiian
* Ilocano
* Malay
* Tagalog

Algic|

* Massachusett
* Munsee
* Ojibwe

Uto-Aztecan|

* Nahuatl
* Classical
* Nawat

Other Native American|

* Cherokee
* Inuit
* Miskito
* Navajo
* Otomi

sign|

* American

artistic|

* Klingon
* Naʼvi
* Quenya

auxiliary|

* Esperanto
* Interlingua
* Interlingue
* Lingua Franca Nova

Other constructed|

* Lojban

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template