Ok, thanks again for answered my question. This make more sense to
me!! And in fact, in the lesson from the site "Old Norse for
Beginners", it written correctly : "endings like -um that have an u
in them, will modify any a in the immediately preceding syllable",
but not on the file that we can find here : "endings like -um that
have an `u' in them, will modify any `a' in preceding stems". The
nuance is little, but necessary !!!!

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, haukurth@... wrote:
> > hi, in lesson 4, it is write that "endings like -um that have an
u in
> > them, will modify any a in preceding stems, changing them to
ö", ok,
> > this is prety simple. But in lessons, it happens some times
> > that a "a" in the stems is not change to a "ö" even if the word
have a
> > "u" endings. For exemples, (in exercise and solution of lesson
5,) :
> > eta þeir vel í VANGINUM, brennr í GARÐINUM, víkingarnir biða með
> > JARLINUM. Even in the reference in lesson 6 : haukum,
> > haukinum, haukunum, manninum. These words shouldn't take
a "ö" ???
>
> Good point! This is actually rather badly worded.
> The u-umlaut only affects any a in the IMMEDIATELY
> preceding syllable. Better update lesson 4...
>
> -rw-r--r-- 1 haukurth rafnem 19757 julí 11 2002 lesson4.php
>
> Why, it hasn't even been a year since last time ;)
>
> Kveðja,
> Haukur
>
> P.S. Yes, this is the sort of question that this mailing
> list was originally envisioned for.