Faroese language

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Faroese føroyskt
Spoken in:	Faroe Islands, Denmark
Total speakers:	60,000 - 80,000
Language family:	Indo-European  Germanic   North Germanic    West Scandinavian     Faroese
Official status
Official language of:	Faroe Islands
Regulated by:	Føroyska málnevndin
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	fo
ISO 639-2:	fao
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	fao
Faroese keyboard layout
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Faroese (føroyskt [ˈføːɹɪst]), often also spelled Faeroese, is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 12,000 Faroese in Denmark. It is one of three insular Scandinavian languages descended from the Old Norse language spoken in Scandinavia in the Viking Age, the others being Icelandic and the extinct Norn, which is thought to have been mutually intelligible with Faroese.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Dictionaries 2 Mutual intelligibility 3 Learning Faroese 4 Alphabet 5 Phonology 5.1 Vowels 5.1.1 Short vowels in endings 5.2 Glide Insertion 5.2.1 Ð and G as glides 5.3 Skerping (sharpening) 5.4 Consonants 5.4.1 Omissions in consonant clusters 6 Grammar 6.1 Nominal inflection 6.1.1 Personal Pronouns 6.2 Verbs 6.2.1 Weak Inflection 6.2.2 Strong Inflection 6.2.3 Auxiliary verbs 6.2.4 Preterite-present verbs 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] History

At one point, the language spoken in the Faroe Islands was Old West Norse, which Norwegian settlers had brought with them during the time of the landnám that began in AD 825. However, many of the settlers weren't really Norwegians, but descendants of Norwegian settlers in the Irish Sea. In addition, native Norwegian settlers often married women from Norse Ireland, the Orkneys, or Shetlands before settling in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As a result, Celtic languages influenced both Faroese and Icelandic. This may be why, for example, Faroese has two words for duck: dunna (from Gaelic tunnag) for a domestic duck, and ont (from Old Norse ǫnd) for a duck in general. (This example has been criticized, however, by people claiming that the word is derived from Old Norse dunna, from Proto-Germanic *dusnō.) There is also some debatable evidence of Celtic language place names in the Faroes: for example Mykines and Stóra & Lítla Dímun have been hypothesized to contain Celtic roots.

Between the 9th and the 15th centuries, a distinct Faroese language evolved, although it was still intelligible with Old West Norse language.

Until the 15th century, Faroese had a similar orthography to Icelandic and Norwegian, but after the Reformation 1538, the ruling Danes outlawed its use in schools, churches and official documents. The islanders continued to use the language in ballads, folktales, and everyday life. This maintained a rich spoken tradition, but for 300 years the language was not written down.

This changed when Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb published a written standard for Modern Faroese 1854 that exists to this day. Although this would have been an opportunity to create a phonetically true orthography like that of Welsh, he produced an orthography consistent with a continuous written tradition extending back to Old Norse. The letter ð, for example, has no specific phonemes attached to it. Also, although the letter 'm' corresponds to the bilabial nasal as it does in English, it corresponds to the alveolar nasal in the dative ending -um [ʊn].

Hammershaimb's orthography met with some opposition for its complexity, and a rival system was devised by Jakob Jakobsen. Jakobsen's orthography (referred to as broyting) was closer to the spoken language, but was never taken up by speakers.

In 1937, Faroese replaced Danish as the official school language, 1938 as church language, and 1948 as national language by the Home Rule Act of the Faroes. However, Faroese didn't become the common language in the media and advertising until the 1980s. Today, Danish is considered a foreign language, though around 5% of the Faroe Islanders learn it as a first language and it is a required subject for students 3rd grade and up.

[edit] Dictionaries

The first scholar of the Faroese language was Jens Christian Svabo (1746-1824). His Dictionarium færoense (Faroese-Danish-Latin) was not printed until 1966/1970, however, and therefore was not the first printed Faroese dictionary.

Hammershaimb and Jakobsen presented the Færøsk anthologi in 1891 with volume 2 containing a glossary with 10,000 entries Faroese-Danish in Modern Faroese orthography. Mads Andrias Jacobsen and Professor Christian Matras followed with the Føroysk-donsk orðabók in 1928 and the enhanced edition in 1961, which is still useful. In 1967, Jóhannes av Skarði published the Donsk-føroysk orðabók (Danish-Faroese), which remains also the base for all newer editions up to now. Skarði also wrote the English-Faroese dictionary (Ensk-føroysk orðabók), which came out in 1985 for the first time. In the same year, G.V.C. Young presented the Faroese-English dictionary (Føroysk-ensk orðabók). In 1987, the Faroese-Norwegian dictionary (Færøysk-norsk ordbok) was issued.

In 1993 a new Danish-Faroese dictionary was published, Donsk-føroysk orðabók, edited by Hjalmar P. Petersen. It is not a puristic dictionary as the former published, but reflects spoken Faroese of today.

The Føroysk orðabók was not published until 1998 by Professor Jóhan Hendrik Winther Poulsen (et al.) as the first monolingual dictionary with 65,700 entries of old and new words, synonyms and illustrations.

In 2004, the first Faroese-Italian dictionary came out and won the National Literature Prize of the Faroes. In December 2005, the Icelandic-Faroese dictionary (Íslensk-færeysk orðabók) followed, and a Faroese-German dictionary is expected in 2006.

[edit] Mutual intelligibility

The former colonial language Danish has more importance than in Iceland. Dual education in Danish and Faroese in schools means the Faroese understand all Scandinavian languages better than any other population.

An old regional variation of spoken Danish still exists, called gøtudanskt. However, this "charming accent" (as a Danish author once referred to it), is progressively being replaced by the Danish learned in school (rigsdansk). Although Danish today is purely considered a foreign language by the Faroese, this variation still colors their pronunciation of Danish and makes it easier for non-Danish Scandinavians to understand and communicate with the Faroese. Furthermore, in speaking a variety of Danish that more closely follows its written form, many Faroese school-age children are very competent in spelling Danish.

Spoken Faroese is best understood by the speakers of Icelandic. Norwegian native speakers would not understand spoken Faroese without some training, and Swedish and Danish speakers will not understand it without extensive studies.

Written Faroese is not much of a problem for those who can read Old Norse and Icelandic and just want to understand the sense of a text. However, to translate it, a dictionary is necessary. Too many words are different and no related words with the certain meaning to be found in the respective languages. This is also due to the fact that Faroese language policy today does not directly borrow from Icelandic, even though some neologisms are the same "by accident", i.e. from the same Old Norse heritage.

[edit] Learning Faroese

It is unusual for Faroese to be taught at universities outside the Faroes (within Scandinavian studies), however University College London has course options in Faroese for students reading Scandinavian Studies. So most students are forced to learn it autodidactically by books, listening to Faroese on the radio (there is an internet live stream) and trying to correspond with Faroese people. A good opportunity for learning Faroese is also visiting the websites of Postverk Føroya and reading their stories to the stamp editions both in Faroese and English (or German, French, Danish).

However, the University of the Faroe Islands offers an annual Summer institute over 3 weeks including:

• 50 lessons of Faroese grammar and language exercises.
• 20 lectures on linguistic subjects, culture, society and nature. The lectures on culture include oral poetry and modern literature.
• 2 excursions to places of historical and geographical interest.

Languages of instruction are Faroese and English. It is said to be very intensive and comprehensive.

[edit] Alphabet

The Faroese alphabet consists of 29 letters:

A, Á, B, D, Ð, E, F, G, H, I, Í, J, K, L, M, N, O, Ó, P, R, S, T, U, Ú, V, Y, Ý, Æ, Ø

Notes:

• Ð, ð can never come at the beginning of a word, but can occur in capital letters in logos or on maps, such as SUÐUROY (Southern Isle).
• Ø, ø can also be written ö in poetic language, such as Föroyar (the Faroes). In handwriting and a few signs it's also possible to see Ő, ő.
• Common family names on the Faroes are e.g. Lützen, Müller, Winther, or the Christian name Zacharias. Even x was known in Hammershaimbs orthography, such as Saxun for Saksun.
• While the Faroese keyboard layout allows one to write in Latin, English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc., the Old Norse and Modern Icelandic letter þ is missing. In related Faroese words it is written as <t> or as <h>, and if an Icelandic name has to be transcribed, <th> is common.

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowels

Grapheme	Name	Short	Long
A, a	fyrra a [ˈfɪɹːa ɛaː] ("leading a")	/a/	/ɛa/
Á, á	á [ɔaː]	/ɔ/	/ɔaː/
E, e	e [eː]	/ɛ/	/eː/
I, i	fyrra i [ˈfɪɹːa iː] ("leading i")	/ɪ/	/iː/
Í, í	fyrra í [ˈfɪɹːa ʊiː] ("leading í")	/ʊi/	/ʊiː/
O, o	o [oː]	/ɔ/	/oː/
Ó, ó	ó [ɔuː]	/œ/	/ɔuː/
U, u	u [uː]	/ʊ/	/uː/
Ú, ú	ú [ʉuː]	/ʏ/	/ʉuː/
Y, y	seinna i [ˈsaiːdna iː]] ("rear i")	/ɪ/	/iː/
Ý, ý	seinna í [ˈsaiːdna ʊiː] ("rear í")	/ʊi/	/ʊiː/
Æ, æ	seinna a [ˈsaiːdna ɛaː] ("rear a")	/a/	/ɛaː/
Ø, ø	ø [øː]	/œ/	/øː/
Other vowels
ei	-	/ai/	/aiː/
ey	-	/ɛ/	/ɛiː/
oy	-	/ɔi/	/ɔiː/

As in other languages, including English, stressed vowels in Faroese are long when not followed by two or three consonants. Two consonants or a consonant cluster usually indicates a short vowel. Exceptions may be short vowels in particles, pronouns, adverbs, and prepositions in unstressed positions, consisting of just one syllable.

As may be seen on the table to the left, Faroese (like English) has a very atypical pronunciation of its vowels, with odd offglides and other features.

[edit] Short vowels in endings

While in other languages a short /e/ is common for inflectional endings, Faroese uses /a, i, u/. This means, that there are no unstressed short vowels except of these three. Even if a short unstressed /e/ is seen in writing, it will be pronounced like /i/: áðrenn [ˈɔaːɹɪnː] (before). Very typical are endings like -ur, -ir, -ar. The dative is often indicated by -um which is always pronounced [ʊn].

• [a] - bátar [ˈbɔaːtaɹ] (boats), kallar [ˈkadlaɹ] ((you) call, (he) calls)

Unstressed /i/ and /u/ in dialects
	Borðoy, Kunoy, Tórshavn	Viðoy, Svínoy, Fugloy	Suðuroy	Elsewhere (standard)
gulur (yellow)	[ˈg̊uːləɹ]	[ˈg̊uːləɹ]	[ˈg̊uːløɹ]	[ˈg̊uːlʊɹ]
gulir (yellow pl.)	[ˈg̊uːləɹ]	[ˈg̊uːləɹ]	[ˈg̊uːløɹ]	[ˈg̊uːlɪɹ]
bygdin (the town)	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥ɪn]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥ən]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥øn]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥ɪn]
bygdum (the towns dat. pl.)	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥ʊn]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥ən]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊d̥øn]	[ˈb̥ɪg̊dʊn]
Source: Faroese : An Overview and Reference Grammar, 2004 (page 350)

• [ɪ] - gestir [ˈʤɛstɪɹ] (guests), dugir [ˈduːjɪɹ] ((you, he) can)
• [ʊ] - bátur [ˈbɔaːtʊɹ] (boat), gentur [ʤɛntʊɹ] (girls), rennur [ˈɹenːʊɹ] ((you) run, (he) runs).

In some dialects, unstressed /ʊ/ is realized as [ø] or is reduced further to [ə]. /ɪ/ goes under a similar reduction pattern so unstressed /ʊ/ and /ɪ/ can rhyme. This can cause spelling mistakes related to these two vowels. The table to the right displays the different realizations in different dialects.

[edit] Glide Insertion

Faroese avoids having a hiatus between two vowels by inserting a glide. Orthographically, this is shown in three ways:

1. vowel + ð + vowel
2. vowel + g + vowel
3. vowel + vowel

Typically, the first vowel is long and in words with two syllables always stressed, while the second vowel is short and unstressed. In Faroese, short and unstressed vowels can only be /a/, /i/, /u/.

[edit] Ð and G as glides

Glide insertion
First vowel		Second vowel			Examples
		i [ɪ]	u [ʊ]	a [a]
Grapheme	Phoneme	Glide
I-surrounding 1 + 2
i, y	[iː]	[j]	[j]	[j]	sigið, siður, siga
í, ý	[ʊiː]	[j]	[j]	[j]	mígi, mígur, míga
ey	[ɛiː]	[j]	[j]	[j]	reyði, reyður, reyða
ei	[aiː]	[j]	[j]	[j]	reiði, reiður, reiða
oy	[ɔiː]	[j]	[j]	[j]	noyði, royður, royða
U-surrounding 2
u	[uː]	[w]	[w]	[w]	suði, mugu, suða
ó	[ɔuː]	[w]	[w]	[w]	róði, róðu, Nóa
ú	[ʉuː]	[w]	[w]	[w]	búði, búðu, túa
I-surrounding 2, U-surrounding 2, A-surrounding 1 (regular)
a, æ	[ɛaː]	[j]	[v]	-	ræði, æðu, glaða
á	[ɔaː]	[j]	[v]	-	ráði, fáur, ráða
e	[eː]	[j]	[v]	-	gleði, legu, gleða
o	[oː]	[j]	[v]	-	togið, smogu, roða
ø	[øː]	[j]	[v]	-	løgin, røðu, høgan
Source: Faroese : An Overview and Reference Grammar, 2004 (page 38)

<Ð> and <G> are used in Faroese orthography to indicate one of a number of glide rather than any one phoneme. This can be:

1. [j]
   • "I-surrounding, type 1" - after /i, y, í, ý, ei, ey, oy/: bíða [ˈbʊija] (to wait), deyður [ˈdɛijʊɹ] (dead), seyður [ˈsɛijʊɹ] (sheep)
   • "I-surrounding, type 2" - between any vowel (except "u-vowels" /ó, u, ú/) and /i/: kvæði [ˈkvɛajɪ] (ballad), øði [ˈøːjɪ] (rage).
2. [w] "U-surrounding, type 1" - after /ó, u, ú/: Óðin [ˈɔuwɪn] (Odin), góðan morgun! [ˌgɔuwan ˈmɔɹgʊn] (good morning!), suður [ˈsuːwʊɹ] (south), slóða [ˈslɔuwa] (to make a trace).
3. [v]
   • "U-surrounding, type 2" - between /a, á, e, æ, ø/ and /u/: áður [ˈɔavʊɹ] (before), leður [ˈleːvʊɹ] (leather), í klæðum [ɪˈklɛavʊn] (in clothes), í bløðum [ɪˈbløːvʊn] (in newspapers).
   • "A-surrounding, type 2"
     • These are exceptions (there is also a regular pronunciation): æða [ˈɛava] (eider-duck), røða [ˈɹøːva] (speech).
     • The past participles have always [v]: elskaðar [ˈɛlskavaɹ] (beloved, nom., acc. fem. pl.)
4. Silent
   • "A-surrounding, type 1" - between /a, á, e, o/ and /a/ and in some words between <æ, ø> and <a>: ráða [ˈɹɔːa] (to advise), gleða [ˈg̊leːa] (to gladden, please), boða [ˈboːa] (to forbode), kvøða [ˈkvøːa] (to chant), røða [ˈɹøːa] (to make a speech)

[edit] Skerping (sharpening)

Skerping
Written	Pronunciation	instead of
-ógv-	[ɛgv]	*[ɔugv]
-úgv-	[ɪgv]	*[ʉugv]
-eyggj-	[ɛʤː]	*[ɛiʤː]
-íggj-, -ýggj-	[ʊʤː]	*[ʊiʤː]
-eiggj-	[aʤː]	*[aiʤː]
-oyggj-	[ɔʤː]	*[ɔiʤː]

The so-called "skerping" (Thráinsson et al. use the term "Faroese Verschärfung" - in Faroese, skerping /ʃɛɹpɪŋg/ means "sharpening") is a typical phenomenon of fronting back vowels before [gv] and monophthongizing certain diphthongs before [ʤː]. Skerping is not indicated orthographically. These consonants occur often after /ó, ú/ (ógv, úgv) and /ey, í, ý, ei, oy/ when no other consonant is following.

• [ɛgv]: Jógvan [ˈjɛgvan] (a form of the name John), Gjógv [ʤɛgv] (cleft)
• [ɪgv]: kúgv [kɪgv] (cow), trúgva [ˈtɹɪgva] (believe), but: trúleysur [ˈtɹʉuːlɛisʊɹ] (faithless)
• [ɛʤː]: heyggjur [ˈhɛʤːʊɹ] (high, burial mound), but heygnum [ˈhɛiːnʊn] (dat. sg. with suffix article)
• [ʊʤː]: nýggjur [ˈnʊʤːʊɹ] (new m.), but nýtt [nʊiʰtː] (n.)
• [aʤː]: beiggi [ˈbaʤːɪ] (brother)
• [ɔʤː]: oyggj [ɔʤː] (island), but oynna [ˈɔinːa] (acc. sg. with suffix article)

[edit] Consonants

	Labial	Apical	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d			k g
Affricate			ʧ ʤ
Fricative	f v	s	ʃ			h
Approximant	w	l	ɹ	j

There are several phonological processes involved in Faroese, including:

• Voiced stops are devoiced word-finally and before voiceless consonants
• Liquids are devoiced before voiceless consonants
• Nasals generally assume the place of articulation and laryngeal settings of following consonants.
• Velar stops palatalize to postalveolar affricates before /j/ /e/ /ɪ/ /y/ /ɛi/ and /ɛi/
• /v/ becomes /f/ before voiceless consonants
• /s/ becomes /ʃ/ after /ɛi, ai, ɔi/ and before /j/ and may assimilate the retroflexion of a preceding /r/ to become [ʂ].

[edit] Omissions in consonant clusters

Faroese tends to omit the first or second consonant in clusters of different consonants:

• fjals [fjals] (mountain's gen.) instead of *[fjadls] from [fjadl] (nom.). Other examples for genitives are: barns [ˈbans] (children's), vatns [van̥s] (lake's, water's).
• hjálpti [jɔl̥tɪ] (helped) past sg. instead of *[ˈjɔlpta] from hjálpa [ˈjɔlpa]. Other examples for past forms are: sigldi [ˈsɪldɪ] (sailed), yrkti [ˈɪɹ̥tɪ] (wrote poetry).
• homophone are fylgdi (followed) and fygldi (caught birds with net): [ˈfɪldɪ].
• skt will be:
  1. [st] in words of more than one syllable: føroyskt [ˈføːɹɪst] (Faroese n. sg.) russiskt [ˈɹʊsːɪst] (Russian n. sg.), íslendskt [ˈʊʃlɛŋ̊st] (Icelandic n. sg.).
  2. [kst] in monosyllables: enskt [ɛŋ̊kst] (English n. sg.), danskt [daŋ̊kst] (Danish n. sg.), franskt [fɹaŋ̊kst] (French n. sg.), spanskt [spaŋ̊kst] (Spanish n. sg.), svenskt [svɛŋ̊kst] (Swedish n. sg.), týskt [tʊkst] (German n. sg.).
     • However [ʂt] in: írskt [ʊʂt] (Irish n. sg.), norskt [nɔʂt] (Norwegian n. sg.)

[edit] Grammar

Not surprisingly, Faroese grammar is quite similar to the Icelandic and Old Norse. Below in the literature section, you'll find a comprehensive grammar to download (chapter 3 of the standardwork Faroese by Thráinsson et al. 2004).

[edit] Nominal inflection

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. But in modern faroese genitive has a very limited use.

Read:

• hvør, hvat? interrogative pronoun "who, what?"
• ein indefinite article "a"
• stórur adjective "big"
• bátur noun "boat"

• ein stórur bátur - a big boat (m.)
• ein vøkur genta - a beautiful girl (f.)
• eitt gott barn - a good child (n.)

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 (except for Old Norse).

The interrogative pronoun is the same as above. In the plural, the plural form of the definite article is used.

Read:

• tann stóri báturin - the big boat-the
• tann vakra gentan - the beautiful girl-the
• tað góða barnið - the good child-the

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

[edit] Personal Pronouns

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

• 1st person: eg [eː] - I, meg [meː] - me (acc.), mær [mɛaɹ] - me (dat.), mín [mʊin] - my
• 2nd person: tú [tʉu] - you, teg [teː] - you (acc.), tær [tɛɹ] - you (dat.), tín [tʊin] - your (gen.)
• 3rd person masculine: hann [hanː] - he, him (nom., acc.), honum [ˈhoːnʊn] - him (dat.), hansara [ˈhansaɹa] - his (gen.)
• 3rd person feminine: hon [hoːn] - she, hana [ˈhɛana] - her (acc.), henni [hɛnːɪ] - her (dat.), hennara [ˈhɛnːaɹa] - her (gen.)
• 3rd person neuter: tað [tɛa] - it (nom., acc.), tí [tʊi] - it (dat.), tess [tɛsː] - its (gen.)

Plural

• 1st person: vit [viːt] - we, okkum [ɔʰkːʊn] - us (acc., dat.), okkara [ˈɔʰkːaɹa] - our (gen.)
• 2nd person: tit [tiːt] - you (pl.), tykkum [ˈtɪʰkːʊn] - you (acc., dat. pl.) tykkara [ˈtɪʰkːaɹa] - your (gen. pl.)
• 3rd person masculine: teir [taiɹ]/[tɔiɹ] - they, them (m. nom., acc.), teimum [ˈtaimʊn]/[ˈtɔimʊn] - them (dat.), teirra [ˈtaiɹːa]/[ˈtɔiɹːa] - their (gen.)
• 3rd person feminine: tær [tɛaɹ] - they, them (f. nom., acc.)
• 3rd person neuter: tey [tɛi] - they, them (n. nom., acc.)

The 3rd person plural neuter tey will be used in all cases when both genders are meant, as in:

• teir eru onglendingar - they are Englishmen (about males)
• tær eru føroyingar - they are Faroese (about females)
• tey eru fólk úr Evropa - they are people from Europe (both sexes)

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Weak Inflection

There are 4 classes of weak inflection of verbs (with some underclasses). E.g.:

1. stem-final -a, 2-3.pers.sg. -r - kalla! (imperative), tú/hann kalla-r (you/he call(s))
2. 2-3.pers.sg. -ur - tú/hann selur (you/he sell(s))
3. 2-3.pers.sg. -ir - tú/hann dømir (you/he judge(s))
4. 2. pers.sg. -rt - tú rørt (you row). There occurs a Verschärfung in certain surroundings: eg rógvi [eː ɹɛgvɪ], I row; vs. eg róði [eː ɹɔuwɪ], I rowed.

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

[edit] Strong Inflection

These verbs are also referred to as regular. There are 7 classes (with underclasses), distinguished by the variations of the stem-vowel:

1. í - ei - i- i; - at bíta - eg beit - vit bitu - vit hava bitið (bite)
2. ó/ú- ey - u- o; - at bróta - eg breyt - vit brutu - vit hava brotið (break)
3. e/i/ø - a- u- o/u; - at svimja - eg svam - vit svumu - vit hava svomið (swim)
4. e/o - a - ó - o; - at bera - eg bar - vit bóru - vit hava borið (bear)
   • o - o - o - o; - at koma - eg kom - vit komu - vit hava komið (come)
5. e/i - a/á - ó - i; - at liggja - eg lá - vit lógu - vit hava ligið (lie)
6. a - ó - ó - a; - at fara - eg fór - vit fóru - vit hava farið (go)
7. a/á - e - i - i; - at fáa - eg fekk - vit fingu - vit hava fingið (get)

Strong Inflection

Infinitive

1. bíta

2. bróta

3. svimja

4. bera

5. koma

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

[edit] Auxiliary verbs

The auxiliary verbs in Faroese are:

• at vera - to be
• at hava - to have
• at verða - to be, become
• at blíva - to be, become

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	varst	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.

[edit] Preterite-present verbs

The preterite-present verbs in Faroese are the following:

• at kunna - to be able to
• at munna - to want
• at mega - to be allowed to
• at skula - shall
• at vita - to know
• at vilja - to want

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

[edit] Further reading

This is a chronological list of books about Faroese still available. Unfortunately, the English-Faroese and Faroese-English dictionaries are sold out.

• V.U. Hammershaimb: Færøsk Anthologi. Copenhagen 1891 (no ISBN, 2 volumes, 4th printing, Tórshavn 1991) (in Danish)
• M.A. Jacobsen, Chr. Matras: Føroysk - donsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1961. (no ISBN, 521 pages, Faroese-Danish dictionary)
• W.B. Lockwood: An Introduction to Modern Faroese. Tórshavn, 1977. (no ISBN, 244 pages, 4th printing 2002)
• Eigil Lehmann: Føroysk-norsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1987 (no ISBN, 388 p.) (Faroese-Norwegian dictionary)
• Tórður Jóansson: English loanwords in Faroese. Tórshavn, 1997. (243 pages) ISBN 99918-49-14-9
• Johan Hendrik W. Poulsen: Føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn, 1998. (1483 pages) ISBN 99918-41-52-0 (in Faroese)
• Annfinnur í Skála: Donsk-føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn 1998. (1369 pages) ISBN 99918-42-22-5 (Danish-Faroese dictionary)
• Michael Barnes: Faroese Language Studies Studia Nordica 5, Supplementum 30. Tórshavn, 2002. (239 pages) ISBN 99918-41-30-X
• Höskuldur Thráinsson (Þráinsson), Hjalmar P. Petersen, Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen, Zakaris Svabo Hansen: Faroese. An Overview and Reference Grammar. Tórshavn, 2004. (500 pages) ISBN 99918-41-85-7 (Chapter 3 - "Inflectional Morphology, Grammatical Categories and Word Classes" as PDF download, 167 p.)
• Richard Kölbl: Färöisch Wort für Wort. Bielefeld 2004 (in German)
• Gianfranco Contri: Dizionario faroese-italiano = Føroysk-italsk orðabók. Tórshavn, 2004. (627 p.) ISBN 99918-41-58-X (Faroese-Italian dictionary)
• Hjalmar Petersen, Marius Staksberg: Donsk-Føroysk orðabók. Tórshavn, 2005. (879 p.) ISBN 99918-41-51-2 (Danish-Faroese dictionary)

[edit] External links

• FMN.fo - Faroese Language Committee (Official site with further links)
• Faeroese - English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.
• Ethnologue report on Faroese

Major Modern Germanic languages
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Minor Modern Germanic languages
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Reg. acknowledged Germanic languages/dialects
Low German / Low Saxon | Limburgish | Scots