Level A1
There are four cases in Icelandic. The fourth case in the declension table is known as the “genitive case”.[a] It shows that the word belongs to something.
The helper word you use to force a word into the fourth case is „til“ (“to”).

Things that cause the fourth case

The following prepositions always cause the fourth case:
  • til (to)
  • vegna (because of)
  • án (without)
Verbs that cause the fourth case include:
  • að sakna (to miss someone)
  • að njóta (to enjoy)
It also appears in sentences showing ownership such as:
  • Þetta er köttur Gunnars. (This is the cat of Gunnar)
Footnotes
  • a. On Ylhýra we refer to it as the “fourth case” for simplicity’s sake since you will always see these four cases listed in the same order in the declension table.
    In Icelandic the first case is called eignarfall and is abbreviated as ef. Eignarfall literally means “owning case”. The English name “genitive” means “pertaining to origin” in Latin.
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