Counting in Icelandic introduces a unique feature that you might not expect right away.

The numbers one through four actually change depending on the gender of the noun you’re counting.

Once you pass the number four, counting becomes much simpler and more standardized.

This guide will walk you through the basic numbers and explain exactly how gender agreement works.

Counting from 1 to 10 in Icelandic

When you’re simply counting out loud, reading a phone number, or doing math, you always use the neuter form of the numbers.

This is considered the default way to count in Icelandic.

Gender agreement for numbers 1 to 4

As mentioned earlier, the numbers one through four must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they modify.

Icelandic has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

If you’re counting cars (masculine), books (feminine), or houses (neuter), you must use the matching form of the number.

Numbers from five and above don’t change form based on gender.

Here are a few examples showing how this works in practice.

Counting from 11 to 20

Once you reach the number five, you no longer need to worry about gender agreement.

The numbers eleven through twenty are completely straightforward.

Counting to 100 in Icelandic

To count higher than twenty, you need to learn the tens.

Just like in English, you combine the tens with the single digits to form larger numbers.

You use the word og (and) to connect them.

For example, twenty-one is tuttugu og eitt.

Remember that if you’re counting specific nouns, the digit for one, two, three, or four at the end of the number still needs to match the gender.

Summary

Counting in Icelandic requires a bit of extra attention for the first four numbers.

Always remember to use the neuter form when counting out loud or doing math.

Once you memorize the gender variations for one through four, the rest of the number system follows a very logical pattern.