Icelandic Verbs

Grammar Tips:

Icelandic verbs are strong or weak and have:

six tenses (present, preterite, perfect, pluperfect, future, future perfect)

three voices (active, middle, passive)

six moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative, present participle, past participle, infinitive).

The basic form of the Icelandic verb is the infinitive. This is the form given in dictionaries. It almost always ends in an -a, and is commonly preceded by the small word að (to). Að hafa (to have), að gefa (to give).

Let's now conjugate a present verb in both indicative and subjunctive:

Indicative:                                       Subjunctive:

Ég tek            I take                          Ég taki

þú tekur         you take                    þú takir

hann tekur    he takes                    hann taki

við tökum      we take                      við tökum

þið takið         you take                    þið takið

þeir taka        they take                   þeir taki

And now the past tense, using a different verb:

Indicative:                                       Subjunctive:

Ég sagði        I said                          Ég segði

þú sagðir       you said                    þú segðir

hann sagði   he said                      hann segði

við sögðum   we said                      við segðum

þið sögðuð    you said                    þið segðuð

þeir sögðu     they said                   þeir segðu

Notes:

The subjunctive commonly has an -i- in its endings. It is used in dependent clauses.

First and second person plurals always have the same endings. (-um and -ð)

Strong verbs form the past by changing their root vowels. Compare ég tek (I take) with ég tók (I took).

Weak verbs add a special suffix to their stem, either a -t- or a -ð- (as in sag-ð-i above)

The future is either identical to the present or formed with the auxiliary verb munu. Ég mun fara (I will go), þú munt koma (you will come).

The future perfect is made with two auxiliary verbs. Ég mun hafa gert (I will have done). This is not common.

The past participle declines like a noun or adjectve. The masculine, feminine and neuter forms of the verbs gefa (give) and taka (take) are as follows:

Gefinn - gefin - gefið and tekinn - tekin - tekið.

The neuter form (gefið - tekið) along with the verb to have (hafa) is used to form the perfect and pluperfect tenses. Ex. Hann hefur tekið (he has taken), hún hafði farið (she had gone).

The present participle can easily be identified by its ending -andi. Gefandi (giving), takandi (taking). It does not decline.

The imperative has a singular and a plural form. The singular is most commonly formed by appending the pronoun þú (you) to the verb stem. The pronoun assimilates to make forms like farðu (go!) komdu (come!).

The plural imperative is identical to the present, e.g. takið (take!) komið (come!).

The passive is formed using the past participle and the verb 'to be' as an auxiliary.

Það var tekið (it was taken) bréfið er skrifað (the letter is written).

The middle voice can be recognized by its suffix -st. It is commonly used when the subject and the object are the same one. Við berjumst (we fight, i.e. we beat and are beaten). Ég klæðist (I put on clothes, i.e. I dress myself).