A Verb's Principal Parts

Level 3

fara – fór – fórum – farið: learn a strong verb with these four forms, and you can build all the others.

How It Works

What each part gives you. Icelandic dictionaries call these forms kennimyndir. For a strong verb:

  • Infinitive (fara): the present tense, which for many strong verbs has its own vowel change in the singular: ég fer.
  • Past singular (fór): ég fór, þú fórst, hún fór.
  • Past plural (fórum): við fórum, þið fóruð, þau fóru. The past subjunctive is built from it with a vowel change: færi.
  • Supine (farið): the perfect, ég hef farið (see the supine), and the past participle farinn.

More strong verbs.

  • bíta – beit – bitum – bitið (bite)
  • bjóða – bauð – buðum – boðið (invite, offer)
  • drekka – drakk – drukkum – drukkið (drink)
  • gefa – gaf – gáfum – gefið (give)
  • taka – tók – tókum – tekið (take)

These fall into families with similar vowel patterns (strong verb patterns).

Regular verbs. Three parts are enough, because the past plural uses the same stem as the singular: kalla – kallaði – kallað, dæma – dæmdi – dæmt, telja – taldi – talið. See groups of regular verbs.

Examples (6)

  1. fara – fór – fórum – farið

    go – went (singular) – went (plural) – gone

  2. taka – tók – tókum – tekið

    take – took (singular) – took (plural) – taken

  3. Ég fór heim snemma í gær.

    I went home early yesterday.

    Word by Word: I went home early in yesterday.

    fór is the past singular.

  4. Við fórum saman í bíó.

    We went to the cinema together.

    Word by Word: We went together in cinema.

    fórum is the past plural.

  5. Hefurðu farið til Akureyrar?

    Have you been to Akureyri?

    Word by Word: Have-you gone to Akureyri?

    farið is the supine, used after hafa.

  6. Hún gaf mér blóm og við drukkum kaffi.

    She gave me flowers and we drank coffee.

Common Mistakes

  • Giving a strong verb a regular -aði past.

    Í gær faraði ég heim.
    Í gær fór ég heim.

    fara is a strong verb. Its past comes from the principal part fór, with no -aði.

  • Using the past singular with a plural subject.

    Við fór heim.
    Við fórum heim.

    The plural past comes from the third principal part: fórum.

  • Using the past tense after hafa.

    Ég hef fór til Spánar.
    Ég hef farið til Spánar.

    After hafa, use the supine, the fourth principal part: farið.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

A Verb's Principal PartsLevel 3

Learn This First

Principal parts build on the supine and the strong past.