Icelandic Citizenship Language Test cheat sheet

Icelandic stress falls on the first syllable of a word; an unstressed first syllable usually signals a loanword or a prefix form, so listening for stress helps segment speech.

Pre-aspiration is phonemic: /p, t, k/ after a vowel are heard as [ʰp, ʰt, ʰk] (e.g. in 'kaka', 'hús'), while /b, d, g/ lack it; hearing the [h] tells you which letter is written.

Voiceless sonorants l, m, n, r occur after aspirated p/t/k (e.g. 'hlaupa', 'hneta'); they sound whispered and are not separate phonemes.

Minimal pairs to discriminate by ear: 'hús/húsi', 'mála/málað', 'vera/verða', 'líka/líkja'; consonant length and final devoicing carry meaning.

Numbers, times and dates are frequent listening tasks: 'hálf tvö' = 1:30, 'korter yfir tvö' = 2:15, 'tuttugu og fimm mínútur yfir' = :25 past; years read as hundreds, e.g. 1995 = 'nítján hundruð níutíu og fimm'.

Directions and place names recur: 'til hægri/vinstri', 'beint áfram', 'hinum megin við götuna', 'á horninu', 'við hliðina á'; listen for case endings on place names after prepositions.

Formal register markers: 'góðan daginn' (neutral/formal), 'hæ' (informal), 'vertu sæll/sæl' (goodbye, gendered); 'þér' plural/formal address vs 'þú' singular.

Discourse fillers that are not content: 'jæja', 'hérna', 'skilurðu', 'eins og sagt er'; ignoring them prevents mistaking them for answers in note-completion items.

Icelandic has no indefinite article; 'maður' = 'a man' or 'man', definiteness comes from the suffixed article: 'maðurinn' = 'the man'. Absence of a separate word for 'the' is not a missing word.

Definite article suffixes: -inn/-in/-ið (nom.), -inn/-ina/-ið (acc.), -inum/-inni/-inu (dat.), -ins/-innar/-ins (gen.); attached to the noun, and adjectives then take the weak form ('gamli maðurinn').

Word order is V2 in main clauses: the finite verb stays in second position, so a fronted adverb inverts the subject ('Í gær fór ég heim', not 'Í gær ég fór').

Subordinate clauses (after 'að', 'þegar', 'ef', 'því að') do not invert: 'Ég veit að hann kemur á morgun'.

Reading for gist: identify the topic sentence, usually first in Icelandic news and informational prose; official texts (letters from Þjóðskrá, skatturinn, municipalities) state the action required in the first paragraph.

Pronoun reference: 'hann/hún/það' agree with grammatical gender, not natural gender, so 'stúlkan' can be referred to with 'hún' but 'barnið' with 'það'; track gender to resolve reference.

Signal words for inference: 'hins vegar' (however), 'því miður' (unfortunately), 'að því gefnu að' (provided that), 'þar af leiðandi' (therefore), 'þó að' (although).

Long compounds are parsed right-head: in 'ferðamannastaður' the head is 'staður'; the left element modifies. Split compounds rather than treating them as unknown vocabulary.

A formal letter opens 'Góðan daginn' or 'Kæri/Kæra [nafn]' and closes 'Með kveðju' or 'Virðingarfyllst'; informal closes with 'Kveðja' or 'Bestu kveðjur'.

Address and date format: 'Reykjavík, 12. maí 2024'; street address precedes postcode and place ('Laugavegur 10, 101 Reykjavík'); phone numbers are seven digits written '555 1234'.

Email register: subject line is short and noun-like; 'Sæl/Sæll' is informal, 'Góðan dag' neutral; avoid English loanwords where an Icelandic term exists (e.g. 'tölvupóstur', 'viðhengi').

Punctuation: comma before subordinate clauses and before 'en', 'því', 'að' in many cases; question mark and exclamation mark as in English; quotation marks are „…“ in Icelandic typography.

Agreement checklist: verb agrees with subject in number; predicate adjective agrees with subject in gender, number and case ('Húsið er gamalt', 'Bókin er gömul', 'Þeir eru gamlir').

Case government to check when writing: 'að' + acc. (direction) vs dat. (location), 'frá' + dat., 'til' + gen., 'án' + gen., 'með' + dat., 'um' + acc.

Text types on the test typically include a short message or invitation, a description of a person/place, and a formal request (e.g. to a landlord or school); each needs an opening, body with 2–3 points, and a closing.

Capitalisation: only the first word and proper nouns; days, months and nationalities are lowercase in Icelandic ('mánudagur', 'janúar', 'íslenskur').

Þ, ð: 'þ' is voiceless [θ] as in 'þú'; 'ð' is a voiced dental fricative [ð] between vowels ('maður') but often silent or glide-like finally ('góður' → [ˈkouːðʏr]).

R is usually a tap [ɾ]; 'rl' and 'rn' assimilate to voiceless [tl] and [tn] ('karl' → [kʰatl], 'barn' → [patn]).

'G' is [k] initially, [ɣ] between vowels, [j] before i/j ('gift'), and silent in '-ag'/'og' endings; 'gj' and 'kj' are [c] ('gjöf', 'kirkja').

'Hv' is [kʰv] or [xv]; 'hv' in 'hvað', 'hver' keeps the h sounded, unlike English 'what'.

Long vowels occur before single consonants and finally ('gata' [aː], 'tala'), short before consonant clusters ('gras' [a]); vowel length is not marked in spelling.

Turn-taking phrases: 'Afsakið, má ég spyrja?', 'Geturðu endurtekið?', 'Hvað segirðu?' (how are you), 'Segðu mér meira', 'Ég skil ekki alveg'.

Politeness: 'Viltu gjöra svo vel að…', 'Má ég biðja þig um…'; 'þú' is standard with everyone in modern Icelandic, including strangers, so 'þér' may sound archaic or deliberate.

Intonation: yes/no questions rise at the end, wh-questions fall; contrastive stress on the first syllable of the focused word, not the last.

Four cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object, direction), dative (indirect object, instrument, location with many prepositions), genitive (possession, 'til', 'án'); nouns, adjectives and articles all inflect.

Noun gender classes: masculine (-ur, -ll, -nn), feminine (-a, -ing, -un, -∅), neuter (-∅, -a in plural); gender is lexical and must be learned with the word.

Verb conjugation: strong verbs change stem vowel in past ('að fara – ég fer – ég fór – við fórum – farið'); weak verbs add -aði/-di/-ti ('talaði', 'keypti', 'lærði').

Middle voice '-st' is productive: 'að þvo' (wash something) vs 'að þvost' (wash oneself); 'að hittast', 'að koma sér saman'.

Personal pronouns in accusative/dative: ég–mig–mér, þú–þig–þér, hann–hann–honum, hún–hana–henni, það–það–því, við–okkur–okkur, þið–ykkur–ykkur, þeir–þá–þeim.

Number words and agreement: 'einn maður', 'ein kona', 'eitt barn'; 'tveir/tvær/tvö'; 'þrír/þrjár/þrjú'; from 4 upward the form does not agree ('fjórir menn', 'fjórar konur', 'fjögur börn').

Common prepositions and case: 'í' + acc. (into) / dat. (in), 'á' + acc. (onto) / dat. (on), 'við' + acc. (beside, with), 'fyrir' + acc. (before, for) / dat. (in front of).

Word formation: compounds are common and the head is last; prefixes 'ó-' (un-), 'for-' (pre-), 'sam-' (co-), and suffix '-legur' (adjective-forming) are productive.

Iceland is a parliamentary republic; the Althingi (Alþingi) is the parliament, and the Prime Minister heads the government while the President is head of state, elected for four years.

Althingi is traditionally dated to 930 at Þingvellir, making it one of the oldest surviving parliamentary assemblies; the current parliament sits in Reykjavík.

Administrative identity: the national registry is Þjóðskrá Ísland; tax authority is Skatturinn; municipalities (sveitarfélög) run schools, kindergartens and many services.

Personal identity number (kennitala) is ten digits: first six are date of birth (DDMMYY), and it is used for all public and banking services.

Everyday institutions: heilsugæsla (primary health care), sjúkrahús (hospital), banki, pósthús, sýslumaður (district commissioner for permits and civil matters).

Education: grunnskóli (compulsory, ages 6–16), framhaldsskóli (upper secondary), háskóli (university); public schooling is largely free.

Cultural markers: Icelandic National Day is 17 June; 'Þorrablót' in midwinter, 'bolludagur'/Bun Day, and 'verslunarmannahelgi' in early August are widely observed.

Language policy: Icelandic is the official language; the Árni Magnússon Institute and language planning bodies coin new terms rather than borrowing, which explains words like 'tölva' (computer) and 'sími' (telephone).

Housing and work basics: rental contracts ('leigusamningur') specify notice periods; the main labour federation is ASÍ and the employers' confederation is SA, and collective agreements set minimum wages.