The term ‘adjectival declension’ is used because not only adjectives, but also quantifiers, participles, determiners and certain pronouns are inflected accord- ing to these patterns. These words are inflected for number, gender, and case, in agreement with the noun that they modify, specify, or are predicated of.
The inflection is by means of suffixes (including a zero suffix), sometimes accompanied by modifications of the stem. The suffix is cumulative, marking both number and case without necessarily being segmentable. Here, as else- where in the nominal inflections, there is no gender difference in the dative and genitive plural: the dative plural always ends in -um. When the stem contains the vowel a, it is rounded by u-umlaut in the dative masculine and neuter singular and in the dative plural. As with nouns, the feminine has the same form in the nominative and accusative plural, and the neuter has the same form in the nominative and accusative of both numbers.
There are two adjectival declension types, a strong and a weak declen- sion. The strong adjectival declension is used for the positive and superlative of adjectives, perfect participles, quantifiers, the definite article, and posses- sive determiners. The weak declension is used for adjectives in the positive, comparative, and superlative, and for present participles. Thus adjectives in the positive or the superlative may be inflected according to the strong or the
weak declension. The two declensions do not represent two classes of adject- ives, as is the case with nouns, but two ways of inflecting the same adjective, depending on its syntactic and semantic function. Basically, the weak declen- sion is used in definite NPs, while the strong declension is used in indefinite NPs and to form predicates (for details, cf. 4.1).
3.5.1
The strong adjectival declension
The strong adjectival declension consists of forms which are based partly on strong nouns, and partly on demonstratives. The forms based on demon- stratives are in the singular: nominative and accusative neuter -t , accusative masculine -(a)n, accusative feminine -a, dative masculine -um, feminine -ri, neuter -u, genitive feminine -rar; and in the plural: nominative masculine -ir and genitive -ra. The other forms come from the masculine a-class, the feminine a2-class, and the neuter class of strong nouns.
There are two variants of the strong adjectival declension, depending on whether the accusative masculine singular has the suffix -an or -n.
(i) The an-type
This is the declension of most adjectives in the positive, the superlative of adjectives, and the perfect participle of weak verbs. The complete paradigm for the strong declension of the adjective langr ‘long’ is given below:
Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
N langr long langt langir langar long
A langan langa langt langa langar long
D longum langri longu longum longum longum
G langs langrar langs langra langra langra
This declensional type includes monosyllabic adjectives, such as blindr ‘blind’, spakr ‘wise’, breiðr ‘broad’, fullr ‘full’, glaðr ‘happy’, sannr ‘true’, etc. Besides sannr we also find saðr; the neuter is satt.
The superlative has the same endings, with u-umlaut where applicable: S.M.N spakastr – S.F.N spokust ‘wisest’. The quantifiers allr ‘all’ and sumr ‘some’ belong to this type.
The perfect participle of weak verbs also has this inflection, with assimilation of the dental suffix to the neuter singular -t and subsequent simplification of the consonant: S.M.N kallaðr – S.NEU.N/A kallat ‘called’.
Bisyllabic adjectives with a stem ending in an unstressed syllable drop the vowel of that syllable before suffixes beginning with a vowel.
S.M.N auðigr – S.M.A auðgan ‘rich’ S.M.G gamals – P.M.A gamla ‘old’
The word heilagr ‘holy’ has either no contraction, or contraction combined with simplification of the root diphthong: S.M.A heilagan or helgan.
Some adjectives have a stem ending in a semivowel. S.M.N ríkr – S.M.A ríkjan ‘powerful’
S.M.N gorr – S.M.A gorvan ‘finished, done’ (ii) The n-type
This is the declension of bisyllabic adjectives with a stem ending in -in, the perfect participle of strong verbs, determiners, and most quantifiers. There is assimilation of the nominative masculine -r to the preceding n. These adjectives differ from the previous type in three positions in the paradigm: in the accusative masculine singular the suffix is -n instead of -an, and in the nominative and accusative neuter singular the final n of the stem is lost before -t .
S.M.N opinn – S.M.A opinn – S.NEU.N/A opit ‘open’ S.M.N/A bitinn – S.NEU.N/A bitit ‘bitten’
The two adjectives lítill ‘small’ and mikill ‘big’ also belong to this type, and the l of the stem assimilates to the -n of the accusative: lítinn, mikinn.
The inflection of the determiner hinn ‘the’ is as follows:
Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
N hinn hin hit hinir hinar hin
A hinn hina hit hina hinar hin
D hinum hinni hinu hinum hinum hinum
This determiner has a variant without the initial h-, which is also used as a cliticized definite article on nouns (cf. 4.1.2). The cliticization involves the following morphophonological changes:
1. The root i- of the article is lost in the following cases:
(a) after a suffix ending in a vowel: P.M.A hesta+ ina > hestana ‘the horses’; after a root ending in a vowel, i- is lost only when the article is bisyllabic: S.F.A á + ina > ána ‘the river’ (but S.F.N á+ in > áin)
(b) after a plural suffix in -r: P.M.N hestar+ inir > hestarnir ‘the horses’
2. The -m of the dative plural of the noun is lost before the article; this rule feeds rule 1a, leading to the loss of the initial i- of the article: P.M.D. hestum+ inum > hestunum.
The possessive determiners for 1st and 2nd person and the 3rd person reflex- ive have the strong adjectival inflection. The singular forms minn, þinn, sinn are similar to the definite article, except that the root i is lengthened before a single -n, and the neuter singular nominative/accusative has a double t . In the dual forms okkarr and ykkarr, the second vowel a changes to u under u-umlaut in the nominative feminine singular and the nominative/accusative neuter plural. Before a suffix starting with a vowel, the a is lost under contrac- tion. The 2nd person plural yðvarr undergoes the same morphophonological changes, and in addition the v is lost.
Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
N yðvarr yður yðvart yðrir yðrar yður
A yðvarn yðra yðvart yðra yðrar yður
D yðrum yðvarri yðru yðrum yðrum yðrum
G yðvars yðvarrar yðvars yðvarra yðvarra yðvarra
This word also has variants without the v in all the forms. The quantifiers einn ‘one’, hverr ‘each’, hvárr ‘each (of two)’, nokkurr ‘some’, and annarr ‘other’ belong to this type, with certain modifications. In the neuter eitt, there is no simplification of -tt after assimilation nt > tt. In the singular neuter forms nokkut and annat the r of the stem is lost before -t, and in the accusative
masculine annan it is lost before -n. In this latter word there is also contraction of the final syllable in the stem before a suffix starting with a vowel, resulting in the assimilation of nn> ð, and u-umlaut where applicable: S.M.A annan – S.M.Doðrum. In hverr the stem ends in j: S.F.A hverja.
The quantifier engi ‘no, none’ has several deviating forms in the singular. The nominative is engi in both the masculine and the feminine, and ekki in the neuter (also accusative). The masculine and neuter genitive is enskis. The other forms are like regular adjectives. This word also appears with the stem øngv-.
3.5.2
The weak adjectival declension
There are two weak adjectival declensions, one for adjectives in the positive and the superlative (Weak 1), and one for adjectives in the comparative and for present participles (Weak 2).
(i) The Weak 1 declension
In the singular, the forms of this declension come from the weak a-class (mas- culine), u-class (feminine), and neuter class. This means that all the oblique forms are the same. In the plural, the dative ends in -um as usual, and all the other cases end in -u, even the genitive. If the adjective has an a as its root vowel, there is u-umlaut throughout the plural. Below is a partial paradigm for the singular of the weak declension of the adjective langr ‘long’.
Masculine Feminine Neuter
N langi langa langa
Obl langa longu langa
P.N/A/G longu – P.D longum.
The rules of vowel and semivowel deletion apply, as in the strong declension. S.M.N gamli ‘old’
S.F.N ríkja ‘powerful’ S.F.N folva ‘pale’ (ii) The Weak 2 declension
This is like the previous declension, except that it has -i in the feminine sin- gular and in the plural of all genders and cases, except the dative, which
still ends in -um. Below is a partial paradigm for the comparative spakari ‘wiser’.
Masculine Feminine Neuter
N spakari spakari spakara
Obl spakara spakari spakara
P.N/A/G spakari – P.D spokurum.
In Norwegian texts, the ending -a was replaced early on by -i.