Most languages mark the subject of a sentence with a specific form, called the nominative case. This pairing of subject and nominative is so common that many people rarely think about alternatives. Yet, Icelandic, along with a handful of other languages, repeatedly demonstrates that even fundamental assumptions about grammar can be challenged. In Icelandic, a wide range of verbs can take a subject in cases other than the nominative, such as the dative or accusative. These are called quirky subjects, or oblique subjects in linguistic terminology.
How quirky subjects work in Icelandic grammar
Quirky subjects are unusual because, even though they are not in the expected case form, they still behave like grammatical subjects in many respects. In Icelandic, these special subjects are present in hundreds of verbs across several categories. For example, verbs that express experience (like “vanta,” meaning need or lack), movement (“reka,” to drift), changes of state (“ysta,” to curdle), success or failure (“takast,” to manage), and acquisition by chance (“áskotnast”) regularly take these non-nominative subjects. While this pattern is prominent in Icelandic, similar possibilities have been documented in languages as diverse as Basque, Hindi, Korean, German, and Russian.
Despite their unfamiliar case marking, quirky subjects can still pass the usual tests for subjecthood. These include binding to subject-oriented pronouns in sentences, controlling non-overt forms in embedded clauses, and participating in certain syntactic movements. For instance, in the test of subject-oriented pronouns, a non-nominative phrase can act as the antecedent for a reflexive pronoun (an action typically only available to true subjects) in Icelandic and several other languages. Additionally, they show themselves as subjects by appearing in certain types of sentence reductions and coordination structures.
Rethinking subjecthood across languages
Traditionally, grammatical analysis ties the role of subject closely to both nominative case marking and verbal agreement. However, Icelandic and related patterns elsewhere show that these connections can break down. For example, in Icelandic, objects and left-dislocated phrases can also carry nominative case, and agreeing predicate nouns may be nominative too. This reveals that case and grammatical function are not always linked in a straightforward way.
The significance of quirky subjects extends beyond Iceland. Cross-linguistic research has led to two primary theories for analysing them. One proposes that these non-nominative subjects receive their case directly from the verb, giving them an unchangeable, lexical identity. Another argument sees subject properties as linked more closely to syntactic position or focus, which allows for changes in their case under specific circumstances.
Icelandic is not alone, but it is a particularly clear example due to the breadth of verbs that participate and the undeniable subject-like behaviour these phrases display. The existence of quirky subjects has encouraged linguists to revise longstanding ideas about how languages mark and use subjects, especially in settings where case and grammatical role do not match as expected.
So, in Iceland, even the subject of a sentence can be quirky. What seems unusual from the perspective of English or French turns out to be a regular and important aspect of Icelandic expression. This feature continues to intrigue linguists and fuels debates about the fundamental structures of language worldwide.
