hafa gaman af

Enjoying Things (Hafa Gaman Af)

Level 2

Ég hef gaman af tónlist. (I enjoy music.) Það er gaman að læra íslensku. (It's fun to learn Icelandic.)

How It Works

hafa gaman af + dative. This means enjoy or like doing. The thing you enjoy is in the dative, because af takes the dative:

  • Ég hef gaman af tónlist. (I enjoy music.)
  • Hann hefur gaman af fótbolta. (He enjoys football.)
  • Börnin hafa gaman af dýrum. (The children love animals.)

With an activity, add því before að: Hún hefur gaman af því að elda (She enjoys cooking). See Prepositions Before Að-Clauses. Use the forms of hafa: hef, hefur, höfum.

Það er gaman að. With vera, the phrase is gaman að: Það er gaman að læra íslensku. Það var gaman að hitta þig! (It was nice to meet you!) This fits the pattern in It Is ... To.

Mér finnst gaman. To say what you personally enjoy, mér finnst gaman að is very common: Mér finnst gaman að dansa.

A note on usage. In speech you may hear af spreading to það er gaman af. In careful and written Icelandic, keep hafa gaman af and það er gaman að apart.

Examples (6)

  1. Ég hef gaman af tónlist.

    I enjoy music.

    Word by Word: I have fun of music.

  2. Hann hefur gaman af fótbolta.

    He enjoys football.

    Word by Word: He has fun of football.

  3. Börnin hafa gaman af dýrum.

    The children love animals.

    Word by Word: The-children have fun of animals.

    af takes the dative plural: dýrum.

  4. Hún hefur gaman af því að elda.

    She enjoys cooking.

    Word by Word: She has fun of it to cook.

  5. Það er gaman að læra íslensku.

    It's fun to learn Icelandic.

    Word by Word: It is fun to learn Icelandic.

  6. Það var gaman að hitta þig!

    It was nice to meet you!

    Word by Word: It was fun to meet you!

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the thing you enjoy in the accusative.

    Ég hef gaman af tónlistina.
    Ég hef gaman af tónlistinni.

    af always takes the dative. tónlistin becomes tónlistinni.

  • Using af with það er and an infinitive.

    Það er gaman af læra íslensku.
    Það er gaman að læra íslensku.

    With vera the phrase is gaman að, and an infinitive always needs að.

  • Saying "I am fun" when you mean "I'm having fun".

    Ég er gaman.
    Mér finnst gaman.

    gaman is a noun meaning fun, not a word that describes a person. To say you are having fun, use Mér finnst gaman or Það er gaman.

How It Connects

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

hafa gaman afLevel 2Enjoying Things (Hafa Gaman Af)

Learn This First

hafa gaman af builds on hafa and the dative.

Words in This Pattern

hafagamanafveraað