Faroese grammar is related and very similar to that of Icelandic. Faroese is an inflected language with three grammatical genders and four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.
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.
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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.
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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) |
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
Plural
The 3rd person plural neuter tey will be used in all cases when both genders are meant, as in:
There are 4 classes of weak inflection of verbs (with some underclasses). E.g.:
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 |
These verbs are also referred to as regular. There are 7 classes (with underclasses), distinguished by the variations of the stem-vowel:
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 |
The auxiliary verbs in Faroese are:
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.
The preterite-present verbs in Faroese are the following:
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 |
Most adjectives inflect for gender, number, case and definitiveness, and for positive, comparative and superlative.
Many adverbs inflect in positive, comparative and superlative.
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