Well, I am not trying to be rude but I am right when I say you are very new to this? :b

geta = 'be able to something'
verit is supine form of 'vera' (to be)

geta is constructed with an infinit verb in supine

thus: ek get talat dönsku = I can speak danish

Which leads to my next point :b
My mother tongue is danish (a grand child of old norse).

Beside from that, I've been learning a good deal of modern icelandic through icelandic penpals, while i have studiet old norse. It has been going on for 3 years soon :b

I also been so lucky to have been able to speak icelandic with icelanders for some short periods, not just write.

But yeah, I first translated it to danish:

der kan kun være en

and then to old norse

þar get aðeins verit einn


So I didnt really translate it from English to old norse, but i guess
you can list the words like this:

þar = there
get = can
aðeins = only, just
verit = be (actaully: been)
einn = one



I am not 100% sure though :b

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "servupro" <servupro@...> wrote:
>
> Thank you so much!
>
> It was my understanding that statements of existence of the sort 'there is...', 'there are...' place the subject or topic first, with no blank pronoun or adverb as in Modern English. Thus Margar sagnir eru... means 'There are great stories...'. Contrast Þar er nú hǫfuðstaðr... 'There is the capital...'; þar always has a specifically locative connotation and is not equivalent to 'there' in Modern English existential 'there is/are...' constructions. Truly impersonal constructions arise in the order Verb (+ Adverb) + Object.
>
> I couldn't find get, aðeins or verit in of the dictionaries I could find, but how does your version translate back to English?
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Hrafn" <nikolai_sandbeck@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I guess a better translation would be:
> >
> > þar get aðeins verit einn
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "servupro" <servupro@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I've done a little digging around and I think I might have something that conveys a similar meaning. Perhaps someone will be so kind to let me know if this makes sense:
> > >
> > > einn mega er einga
> > >
> > > --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "servupro" <servupro@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I'm trying to get a short phrase translated from modern English to Old Norse (I guess old West Norse?) but I'm no linguist and its just one short phrase so I was hoping I might find someone here who can help me. The phrase is "there can be only one".
> > > >
> > > > Is there anyone out there who can help me?
> > > >
> > > > Thank you in advance for your reply! ;-)
> > > >
> > > > Mark
> > > >
> > >
> >
>