Impersonal Verbs Without a Subject

Level 5

Bátinn rak á land. (The boat drifted ashore.) The boat did not do anything, so it is not in the nominative. The verb rak stays third person singular.

How It Works

1. No subject at all. Weather verbs describe what happens around us. Nobody does it, so there is no subject.

  • Það rignir. (It is raining.) Það snjóar. (It is snowing.)
  • Það hvessir. (The wind is picking up.) Það lægir. (The wind is dying down.)
  • Nú birtir til. (Now it is clearing up.) Það frystir. (It is freezing.)

The word það only holds the first place in the sentence. It is not a real subject, so it disappears when something else comes first: Það rignir í dag, but Í dag rignir. See the placeholder það and weather.

2. The thing affected is in the accusative. Some verbs describe something that a force of nature does to a thing. The thing is not the doer, so it is not nominative:

  • Bátinn rak á land. (The boat drifted ashore.) Wind or sea moved the boat.
  • Snjóinn leysti snemma í vor. (The snow melted early this spring.)
  • Bílinn fennti í kaf. (The car was buried in snow.)

3. The thing affected is in the dative. A few verbs use the dative instead:

  • Bátnum hvolfdi í storminum. (The boat capsized in the storm.)

The verb never agrees. The verb is always third person singular, even with a plural noun: Bátana rak á land (The boats drifted ashore).

Not the same as feeling verbs. Verbs like mig langar and mér finnst also use the accusative or dative, but they describe a person who feels or wants something. See oblique subjects.

Keep the case. In everyday speech people sometimes change these cases. Some say báturinn rak instead of bátinn rak, and some say mér langar instead of mig langar. Careful Icelandic keeps the original case. The second change is called þágufallssýki.

Examples (6)

  1. Það rignir mikið í Reykjavík.

    It rains a lot in Reykjavík.

    Word by Word: It rains much in Reykjavík.

  2. Í dag snjóar en í gær rigndi.

    Today it's snowing, but yesterday it rained.

    Word by Word: In day snows but in yesterday rained.

    When another word comes first, það disappears.

  3. Það hvessir í kvöld.

    It will get windy tonight.

    Word by Word: It winds-up in evening.

  4. Bátinn rak á land.

    The boat drifted ashore.

    Word by Word: The-boat (ACC) drove onto land.

    bátinn is accusative because the boat did nothing itself.

  5. Snjóinn leysti snemma í vor.

    The snow melted early this spring.

    Word by Word: The-snow (ACC) loosened early in spring.

  6. Bátnum hvolfdi í storminum.

    The boat capsized in the storm.

    Word by Word: The-boat (DAT) capsized in the-storm.

    hvolfa takes the dative.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the thing affected in the nominative.

    Báturinn rak á land.
    Bátinn rak á land.

    The boat is not the doer. Something else moved it, so standard Icelandic uses the accusative bátinn.

  • Keeping það after another word has come first.

    Í dag rignir það.
    Í dag rignir.

    það only fills the first place. When í dag comes first, það is left out.

  • Making the verb plural with a plural noun.

    Bátana ráku á land.
    Bátana rak á land.

    The verb of an impersonal sentence is always third person singular: rak, not ráku.

How It Connects

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

Impersonal Verbs Without a SubjectLevel 5

Learn This First

Impersonal verbs build on weather and oblique subjects.