I have now been learning Icelandic for a couple of weeks, and am still on Lesson 1 in Colloquial Icelandic. I’m in no hurry, and just want to learn the basics, at least at first, so my lack of progress doesn’t worry me.
There seem to be quite a few ways to greet people in Icelandic. These include:
– Halló
– Góðan dag(inn) = Good day
– Komdu sæll og blessaður (>m) = “Come joyful and blesed”
– Komdu sæl og blessað (>f) = “Come joyful and blessed”
– Komdu sæll (>m), Komdu sæl (>f)
– Sæll (>m), Sæl (>f)
– Sæll vertu (>m), Sæl vertu (>f)
– Blessaður (>m), Blessað (>f)
Goodbyes include:
– Vertu blessaður (>m), Vertu blessuð (>f) = “Be blessed”
– Vertu sæll (>m), Vertu sæl (>f) = “Be joyful”
– Bless á meðan = “Bye as long as”
– Bless bless = Bye bye
– Bless = Bye
– Við sjáumst = “We (will) see each other again”
– Sjáumst síðar = See you later
>m = said to males, >f = said to females
You can hear recordings of some of these on my Icelandic phrases page.
Are these all commonly-used?
Do other languages have gender-specific greetings?
In italian we say “benvenuto” (m) and “benvenuta” (f) for “welcome”, and is the same for all greetings that are formed with an adjective or a past participle in -o (m) and -a (f)