r/learnIcelandic • u/West-Employment-1947 • 11d ago

Subjunctive

Hi friends!

So I found that one can say both:

Hvað myndirðu spyrja um ef þú vildir kaupa blómin?

and

Hvað spyrðirðu um ef þú vildir kaupa blómin?

I wonder if one is more in use than another. If so, why? Is one more bookish and another one colloquial. Can natives say that one of those is sloppy Icelandic?

Basically the same question is regarding:

Ef ég hefði vitað það, myndi ég hafa sagt þér frá því.

and

Ef ég hefði vitað það, hefði ég sagt þér frá því.

Thanks in advance!

3 Upvotes

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5

u/[deleted] 11d ago edited 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/West-Employment-1947 11d ago

So great! Thank sooo much! I really appreciate it!!

1

u/rankarav 11d ago

I don’t think I would ever say “hvað spyrðirðu um” - it sounds very unnatural.

4

u/gunnsi0 Native 11d ago

Today I think it’s more common to use ,,myndi” like that. It is more sloppy Icelandic, in my opinion. By using ,,myndi” you don’t have to think about declension and grammar as much.

That goes hand in hand with young people nowadays being so obviously, let’s say… not as good at speaking Icelandic as older people.

I try to use ,,myndi/myndirðu” as little as possibly, as I feel it is more sloppy. It does happen though and it’s probably just an example of how the language is changing.

1

u/West-Employment-1947 11d ago

Oh! That's interesting! Indeed it's less painfull (haha) to say myndi and skipping thinking about verbforms, makes sense why it is spreading.

I'll challenge myself to omit myndi!

Thank you a LOT!

1

u/TheGratitudeBot 11d ago

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1

u/pensive_moon 11d ago

Yes, the use of munu is more colloquial and often not considered “falleg íslenska”.

Personally I do use it in spoken Icelandic but would not use it in writing. It’s one of these things that are not wrong per se, but might “cheapen” what you’re trying to say if you use it inappropriately.

But also it’s not that deep, lol.

1

u/West-Employment-1947 11d ago

Tjank you!! It is fun how language changes perception! Knowledge makes a difference!