Map of Iceland in Northern Europe

Icelandic belongs to the Nordic language branch.

Icelandic writing

General

Although heavily related to old Norse, it is not mutually intelligible with other scandinavian languages. Although like Scandinavia, they speak very good English as well as other Scandinavian languages, predominantly Danish due to its past links to the country.

Written Icelandic

C, Q, W, and Z are not used in the Icelandic alphabet, only in loan words and foreign words.

Icelandic Latin Alphabet

There are 32 letters in the Icelandic alphabet.

It does use accents, see below:

Full Icelandic Alphabet

   a      A  

   á      Á  

   b      B  

   d      D  

   Ð      ð  

   e      E  

   é      É  

   f      F  

   g      G  

   h      H  

   i      I  

   í      Í  

   j      J  

   k      K  

   l      L  

   m      M  

   n      N  

   o      O  

   ó      Ó  

   p      P  

   r      R  

   s      S  

   t      T  

   u      U  

   ú      Ú  

   v      V  

   x      X  

   y      Y  

   ý      Ý  

   þ      Þ  

   æ      Æ  

   ö      Ö  

Improvements to this site?

Icelandic Translation Service
  • Total Cost: £
Click here to submit for translation

Icelandic Translation sample:

Hver maður er borinn frjáls og jafn öðrum að virðingu og réttindum. Menn eru gæddir vitsmunum og samvisku, og ber þeim að breyta bróðurlega hverjum við annan.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Icelandic Speaking countries

Icelandic

Indo-European Language group

European language groups

Indo-European > Germanic > North Germanic

Icelandic letter writing samples

  • Letter (formal)
  • Letter (informal)