How do definite articles work differently in Icelandic and Danish than in Norwegian and Swedish?

In Norwegian and Swedish, definite articles are expressed through a "double definite" construction. This means that when a noun is modified by an adjective, the definite article is indicated by both a form preceding the adjective and a suffix attached to the noun (e.g., det store huset, meaning "the big house," where both det and -et signify "the").1

In contrast, Icelandic and Danish do not use this double definite construction. In Danish, the suffix is omitted when an adjective is present, resulting in the construction det store hus ("the big house").1

While all the Scandinavian languages share the characteristic of using enclitic definite articles—placing the definite article as a suffix after the noun—the specific application of these articles in phrases containing adjectives serves as a key grammatical distinction between these groups.12