maður - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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Inherited from Old Norse maðr, from Proto-Germanic *mann-, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mánu- (“person”), *man-.

maður m (genitive singular mans, plural menn)

  1. man, male
  2. husband
  3. human being, people, man (generic)
  4. sailor
  5. member of a group
  6. (chess) chessman (except pawns)
m41 Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative maður maðurin menn menninir
Accusative mann mannin menn menninar
Dative manni manninum monnum monnunum
Genitive mans mansins manna mannanna
  • (antonym(s) of “man, male”): kvinna
  • (antonym(s) of “husband”): kona

Inherited from Old Norse maðr, from Proto-Germanic *mann-, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mánu- (“person”), *man-.

  • IPA(key): /ˈmaðʏr/, [ˈmäːð̠˕ʏr̥]
    Audio (Iceland, Kópavogur):(file)
    Rhymes: -aːðʏr

maður m (genitive singular manns, nominative plural menn)

  1. human being, person, humanity, mankind, man (generic)

    Það tilheyrir náttúru mannsins að hata þá sem hann hefur sært.

    It belongs to human nature to hate those that he has hurt.
  2. man, adult male individual

    Ég sá mann úti á götu.

    I saw a man out on the street

    Þá sendi Benhadad menn til að njósna. Þeir sögðu honum svo frá: "Menn fara út frá Samaríu."

    and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. 1 Kings 20:17
  1. (mainly used with a definite article) husband

    Þetta er Geir, maðurinn minn.

    This is Geir, my husband.
  2. (chess) chess piece, chessman

    Færðu manninn þinn.

    Move your piece.
    Declension of maður
maður singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative maður maðurinn menn mennirnir
accusative mann manninn menn mennina
dative manni manninum mönnum mönnunum
genitive manns mannsins manna mannanna

maður

  1. one, you

    Maður gerir þetta svona.

    You do it like this./One does it like this.

The pronoun maður declines as the noun, but cannot take the definite article. It is placed in a clause in the same way as the noun, but the difference is in the stress: as a pronoun, it never takes the main stress in a sentence. It also cannot be substituted with the pronoun hann due to being a pronoun itself.