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Extra Icelandic Grammar

This document supplements an Icelandic language course by providing conjugation tables for common Icelandic verbs - hafa ('have'), eiga ('own'), geta ('get'), vilja ('want') and the conditional form væri ('would be'). It explains that Icelandic uses these verbs with past participles similarly to English to talk about things like possession, ability, wanting and conditionals. For example, "I have intended" is expressed as "ég hef ætlað" using the verb hafa with the past participle of ætla, and "they can understand" is "þeir geta skilið" using geta with the past participle of skilja.

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96 views

Extra Icelandic Grammar

This document supplements an Icelandic language course by providing conjugation tables for common Icelandic verbs - hafa ('have'), eiga ('own'), geta ('get'), vilja ('want') and the conditional form væri ('would be'). It explains that Icelandic uses these verbs with past participles similarly to English to talk about things like possession, ability, wanting and conditionals. For example, "I have intended" is expressed as "ég hef ætlað" using the verb hafa with the past participle of ætla, and "they can understand" is "þeir geta skilið" using geta with the past participle of skilja.

Uploaded by

NadineGee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Some other groovy grammar, not on the mps3

This document is a supplement to Alaric Halls experimental beginners Icelandic course at


http://www.alarichall.org.uk/teaching/modern_icelandic.php.
hafa have (past participle: haft)
present

past

hef

hafi

hefur

hafir

hann/hn/a

hefur

hafi

vi

hfum

hfum

hafi

hfu

eir/r/au

hafa

hfu

To say things like I have been here, I had been here, Icelandic uses exactly the same technique as
English:
To say I have intended use g hef + past participle of tla: g hef tla.
To say they have been use eir hafa + past participle of vera: eir hafa veri.
I say I had intended use g hafi + past participle of tla: g hafi tla.
To say we had understood use vi hfum + past participle of skilja: vi hfum skili.
And so forth.
eiga own (past participle: tt)
present

past

tti

tt

ttir

hann/hn/a

tti

vi

eigum

ttum

eigi

ttu

eir/r/au

eiga

ttu

To say things like I have to do it, Icelandic doesnt use hafa: it uses eiga own. So its similar to
English but a bit different.
To say I have to travel use g + a + verb: g a fara
To say they have to be here use eir eiga + a + verb: eir eiga a vera hr.
And so forth.
geta get (past participle geti)
present

past

get

gat

getur

gast

hann/hn/a getur

gat

vi

getum

gtum

geti

gtu

eir/r/au

geta

gtu

Modern Icelandic has no equivalent to can in English. To say I can do it, Icelandic says I get it
done; to say I could do it, Icelandic says I got it done; to say they can understand it, Icelandic says
they get it understood, and so forth.
To say I can do it, use g get + past participle of gera: g get a gert.
To say she can understand it, use hn get + past participle of skilja: hn getur a skili.
To say I could do it when I was a student, use g gat + past particple of gera: g gat a gert egar
g var nemi.
To say we could travel yesterday but not today, use vi gtum + past participle of geta: vi gtum
fari gr en ekki dag.
vilja want (past participle vilja)
present

past

vil

vildi

vilt

vildir

hann/hn/a vill

vildi

vi

viljum

vildum

vilji

vildu

eir/r/au

vilja

vildu

vri (would be)


Vri means would be in the first and third person singular. (For the full set of forms, see the Magic
Sheet, under vera.) This is very useful in day-to-day speech.
To say it would be good, say: a vri gott.
To say He would be a good teacher if he wasnt wrong, say: hann vri gur kennari ef hann var
ekki rangur.

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