Icelandic Present Tense of Verbs

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Conjugations of Icelandic verbs

In Icelandic, there are three categories of verbs. The first group is known as the –a group. In the ég form use the infinitive and in the þú and hann, hún, það form and an r to the infinitive. An example:

Ég tala

Þú talar

Hann talar

The second group is the –I group. These follow the same rules as above except with an i, for example:

Ég þoli

Þú þolir

Hún þolir

The third group is the ur group and conjugates as follows:

Ég vinn

Þú vinnur

Það vinnur

All three groups have the same endings in the plural:

Við – um Við tölum (ö shift)

Þið – ið Þið talið

Þeir – a Þeir tala

All verbs in Icelandic end in a in the infinitive, except munu and skulu which are used to express the future and a few other verbs which end in á.

Tala – to talk

Þola – to endure

Vinna – to work

Negative Icelandic Sentences

If you require to make a statement negative, place ekki after the verb. For example, ég ætla ekki að… I don’t intend to…

There are a few ways of negating statements in Icelandic, the easiest being nei (no). When making a negative statement positive, use jú instead of já. For example, “Ertu ekki englendinger?” translates as “are you not English?” If you are, use jú rather than já.