Cases and Prepositions

Case is one of the big hurdles facing Icelandic learners. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns can seem to randomly change at arbitrary times with no rhyme or reason, particularly to a speaker who comes from a language with as little inflection as English. However, the Icelandic case is largely systematic and absolutely learnable. In this article we will take a look at case as it relates to prepositions.

Case Assigners

A preposition expresses a relation in time or space. They are, like verbs, case assigners in Icelandic. That is, the case of a noun depends on the preposition preceding it. This does mean that it is necessary (at least eventually) to memorise which case every single preposition assigns, but this is a lot more doable than it may seem at first glance. No preposition ever assigns the nominative, and only a very few assign the genitive, so in the vast majority of cases the options are only two: accusative or dative.

We will go through the cases, one by one, and list the most common prepositions which assign each case. This is not an exhaustive list, but it will cover the vast majority of prepositions a speaker is likely to need in daily life.

Translations given in parentheses will not be exact for every circumstance, but meaning will be quite consistent. When it comes to prepositions the exact translation is rarely important for understanding; context is everything. Just remember that a preposition expresses a relation in time or space and context will do the heavy lifting. 

There are a select few prepositions which may take either accusative or dative and change the meaning of the sentence depending on which it is. We we will save these for last.

Nominative

No preposition assigns the nominative case.

Accusative

Um (about), við (by), and kringum (around) always take the accusative case. In addition, prepositional phrases which indicate relative position and start with fyrir take the accusative: fyrir sunnan (south of), fyrir norðan (north of), fyrir austan (east of), fyrir vestan (west of), fyrir ofan (above), fyrir neðan (underneath), fyrir innan (inside of), fyrir utan (outside of), fyrir framan (in front of) and fyrir aftan (behind).

• ‍Jón er að tala um yfirmann_acc sinn_acc > Jón is talking about his boss.‍
• Guðrún situr við borðið_acc > Guðrún sits at the table.‍
• Börnin hópuðust kringum Sigurð_acc > The children grouped around Sigurður.‍
• Reykjavík er fyrir sunnan Akranes_acc > Reykjavík is south of Akranes.‍
• Mótmælin voru fyrir utan Alþingi_acc > The protest was outside of parliament. 

Dative

Most prepositions take the dative case. For example frá (from), hjá (by, with), af (off), að (up to), handa (for), móti (opposite), and úr (out of). 

• ‍Kærastan hans Guðmunds fór frá honum_dat > Guðmundur’s girlfriend left him.‍
• Ég er heima hjá Sigríði_dat > I’m at Sigríður’s place.‍
• Viltu taka dótið af borðinu_dat? > Could you take the stuff off the table?‍
• Kristín færði skápinn upp að veggnum_dat > Kristín moved the cabinet up against the wall.
• Ég keypti gjöf handa Gunnari_dat > I bought a present for Gunnar.‍
• Bíllinn kom á móti mér_dat >The car came towards me from the opposite direction.‍
• Eigum við að fara upp úr lauginni_dat? > Shall we get out of the pool? 

Genitive

Til (to), milli (between), and án (without) always take the genitive case. 

• ‍Ég þarf að fara til tannlæknis_gen um helgina > I need to go to a dentist this weekend.‍
• Er eitthvað í gangi milli ykkar_gen? > Is there something going on between you guys?‍
• Ég ætla að fá eina pylsu án sinneps_gen > I’m gonna have a hot dog without mustard.

Variable Prepositions

Some prepositions can take either the accusative or dative cases, and change the meaning of the phrase depending on which they take. These are í, á, yfir, undir; and fyrir, eftir, með.

Í á, yfir, undir

As we explore in depth in í, á, yfir, undir, these four prepositions take the accusative when they indicate motion towards a location, and the dative when they don't indicate motion toward a location.

• ‍Helga hljóp í vinnuna_acc > Helga ran to work.‍
• Helga hljóp í vinnunni_dat > Helga ran around at work.‍
• Ólafur fór á kaffihús_acc í gær > Ólafur went to a café yesterday.‍
• Kötturinn skreið undir rúmið_acc > The cat crawled under the bed.‍
• Ljósakrónan hangir yfir borðinu_dat > The chandelier hangs above the table.

In addition, when referring to time, í indicates duration of an event or state, and takes the accusative. Á indicates the time taken to complete an action, and takes the dative. These prepositions are explored in depth in our article on Duration.

• ‍Hann var að leysa rubik’s kubba í tíu mínútur_acc > He was solving rubik’s cubes for ten minutes.‍
• Hann leysti rubik’s kubb á tveimur mínútum_dat > He solved a rubik’s cube in two minutes.

Fyrir 

Fyrir with the accusative case is equivalent to for while fyrir with the dative case can mean either to in the sense of opinion (what does this mean to you?), or being in somebody’s way.

• ‍Þetta er kennslubók fyrir byrjendur_acc > This is a textbook for beginners.‍
• Hvað þýðir „þau voru í pásu” fyrir þér_dat? > What does “they were on a break” mean to you?‍
• Viltu færa þig? Þú ert fyrir mér_dat > Can you move? You’re in my way.

Eftir

Eftir with the accusative is used to mean by (an author) or after (a cause), and with the dative to mean after (in space).

• ‍Hann las Ég man þig, eftir Yrsu_acc > He read I Remember You, by Yrsa.‍‍
• ‍Herbergið er í rúst eftir þig_acc! > The room is a mess after you!‍
• Ég skal fara inn eftir þér_dat > I’ll go inside after you.

Fyrir and eftir as Timing Expressions 

Fyrir and eftir are prolific prepositions as timing expressions. We explore them in-depth in our article on Point-Relative Timing, but here is a very short recap. With time, fyrir translates as ago and takes the dative; eftir translates as in and takes the accusative. With events, fyrir translates as before and eftir as after; they both take the accusative in this use.

• ‍Ég vaknaði fyrir korteri_dat > I woke up fifteen minutes ago.‍
• Hann vaknar eftir korter_acc > He’ll wake up in fifteen minutes.
• ‍Ég vakna aldrei fyrir hádegi_acc > I never wake up before noon.‍
• Hann vaknar alltaf eftir hádegi_acc > He always wakes up after noon.

Með

I have a whole article just about this preposition, so definitely check it out. Here's a short recap, though: með with the accusative means have or bring, while með with the dative means with.

• ‍Ég fór með Jón_acc í skólann > I went to school with John (I brought John to school).‍
• Ég fór með Jóni_dat í skólann > I went to school with John (John and I went to school together).‍
• Ég ætla að fá hamborgara með osti_dat > I’m going to have a hamburger with cheese (a hamburger and some cheese).‍

Summary

What case each preposition takes needs to be memorised. No prepositions take the nominative and only a very few take the genitive. Some prepositions change their meaning depending on what case they take. Among them are í and á which can indicate motion or non-motion with the accusative and the dative, respectively. Með indicates possession with the accusative and accompaniment with the dative.

Unfortunately, the matter of case assignment is too big a topic to cover in its entirety in this article. In addition to prepositions, verbs are prolific case assigners. This phenomenon is detailed in other articles.

Following is a table summarising everything discussed in this article. It also incorporates verbs as case assigners as discussed in Cases and Verbs.