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 Below is a representation of three grammatical genders, two numbers and four cases in the nominal inflection. This is an overview - Faroese has more declensions than are listed here. 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 compared to the other cases, which are learned naturally in regular colloquial situations.
Examples: , interrogative pronoun "who, what?" indefinite article "a" adjective "big" noun "boat" – a big boat (m.) – a beautiful girl (f.) – a good child (n.)
In the plural you will see that the numeral (2) is inflected.
Indefinite phrases Singular ? Masculine ? Feminine ? NeuterNominative hvør? ein stórur bátur hvør? ein vøkur genta hvat? eitt gott barnAccusative hvønn? ein stóran bát hvørja? eina vakra gentu hvat? eitt gott barnDative hvørjum? einum stórum báti hvørj(ar)i? einari vakari gentu hvørjum? einum góðum barniGenitive hvørs? (eins stórs báts) hvørjar? (einar vakrar gentu) hvørs? (eins góðs barns) Plural ? Masculine ? Feminine ? NeuterNominative hvørjir? tveir stórir bátar hvørjar? tvær vakrar gentur hvørji? tvey góð børnAccusative hvørjar? tveir stórar bátar hvørjar? tvær vakrar gentur hvørji? tvey góð børnDative hvørjum? tveimum stórum bátum hvørjum? tveimum vøkrum gentum hvørjum? tveimum góðum børnumGenitive 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.
Examples: – the big boat-the – the beautiful girl-the – the good child-the
Definite phrases Singular Masculine Feminine NeuterNominative tann stóri báturin tann vakra gentan tað góða barniðAccusative tann stóra bátin ta vøkru gentuna tað góða barniðDative tí stóra bátinum tí vøkru gentuni tí góða barninumGenitive (tess stóra bátsins) (teirrar vøkru gentunnar) (tess góða barnsins) Plural Masculine Feminine NeuterNominative teir stóru bátarnir tær vøkru genturnar tey góðu børniniAccusative teir stóru bátarnar tær vøkru genturnar tey góðu børniniDative teimum stóru bátunum teimum vøkru gentunum teimum góðu børnunumGenitive (teirra stóru bátanna) (teirra vøkru gentunna) (teirra góðu barnanna)
Personal Pronouns Faroese personal pronouns are:
Personal pronouns Singular 1. 2. 3. m 3. f 3. n Nominative 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: – I, – me (acc.), – me (dat.), – my 2nd person: – you, – you (acc.), – you (dat.), – your (gen.) 3rd person masculine: – he, him (nom., acc.), – him (dat.), – his (gen.) 3rd person feminine: – she, – her (acc.), – her (dat.), – her (gen.) 3rd person neuter: – it (nom., acc.), – it (dat.), – its (gen.) Plural 1st person: – we, – us (acc., dat.), – our (gen.) 2nd person: – you (pl.), – you (acc., dat. pl.) – your (gen. pl.) 3rd person masculine: ~ – they, them (m. nom., acc.), ~ – them (dat.), ~ – their (gen.) 3rd person feminine: – they, them (f. nom., acc.) 3rd person neuter: – they, them (n. nom., acc.)
The 3rd person plural neuter is used in all cases when both genders are meant, as in:
– they [male] are Englishmen – they [women] are Faroese – they [neuter] are people from Europe
Verbs
Weak Inflection There are 4 classes of weak inflection of verbs (with some underclasses).
Examples: stem-final -a, 2–3.pers.sg. -r – kalla! (imperative), (you call/he calls) 2–3.pers.sg. -ur – (you sell/he sells) 2–3.pers.sg. -ir – (you judge/he judges) 2. pers.sg. -rt – (you row). In certain surroundings, skerping occurs: (I row) vs. (I rowed).
Weak InflectionInfinitive 1. kalla 2. selja 3. døma 4. rógva Singular Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past1st pers. kalli kallaði selji seldi dømi dømdi rógvi róði2nd pers. kallar kallaði selur seldi dømir dømdi rørt róði3rd pers. kallar kallaði selur seldi dømir dømdi rør róði Plural Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past1st, 2nd, 3rd pers. kalla kallaðu selja seldu døma dømdu rógva róðuSupinekallaðseltdømtróð
Strong Inflection These verbs are also referred to as regular, unlike English and German, the other two Germanic languages, which treat them otherwise. There are 7 classes (with underclasses), distinguished by the variations of the stem-vowel: í – í – ei – i- i; – – – – (bite) ó/ú – ý – ey – u- o; – – – – – (break) e/i/ø – i – a – u- o/u; – – – – – (swim) e/o – e – a – ó – o; – – – – – (bear) o – e – o – o – o; – – – – – (come) e/i – e/i – a/á – ó – i; – – – – – (lie) a – e – ó – ó – a; – – – – – (go) a/á – æ – e – i – i; – – – – – (get) Strong InflectionInfinitive 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 Past1st pers. bíti beit bróti breyt svimji svam komi kom liggi lá fari fór fái fekk2nd pers. bítur beitst brýtur breytst svimur svamst kemur komst liggur lást fert fórt fært fekst3rd 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 Past1st, 2nd, 3rd pers. bíta bitu bróta brutu svimja svumu koma komu liggja lógu fara fóru fáa finguSupine bitiðbrotiðsvomiðkomiðligiðfariðfingið
Auxiliary verbs The auxiliary verbs in Faroese are:
– to be – to have – to be, become – to be, become Auxiliary verbsInfinitive 1. vera 2. hava 3. verða 4. blíva Singular Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past1st pers. eri var havi hevði verði varð blívi bleiv2nd pers. ert vart hevur hevði verður varðst blívur bleivst3rd pers. er var hevur hevði verður varð blívur bleiv Plural Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past1st, 2nd, 3rd pers. eru vóru hava høvdu verða vórðu blíva blivuSupine verið havt verðið blivið Note that and are homonyms.
Preterite-present verbs The preterite-present verbs in Faroese are: – to be able to – to want – to be allowed to – shall – to know – to want
Preterite-present verbsInfinitive 1. kunna 2. munna 3. mega 4. skula 5. vita 6. vilja Singular Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past Present Past1st pers. kann kundi man mundi má mátti skal skuldi veit visti vil vildi2nd pers. kanst kundi manst mundi mást mátti skalt skuldi veitst visti vilt vildi3rd 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 Past1st, 2nd, 3rd pers. kunnu/kunna kundu munnu/munna mundu mugu/mega máttu skulu/skula skuldu vita vistu vilja vilduSupinekunnaðmunnaðmegaðskulaðvitaðviljað
Adjectives Most adjectives inflect for gender, number, case and definitiveness, and for positive, comparative and superlative.
Adverbs Many adverbs inflect in positive, comparative and superlative.
External links Faroese online syntactic analyser and morphological analyser/generator