mér leiðist / mig minnir

More Verbs with Oblique Subjects

Level 3

Mér leiðist (I'm bored) and Mig minnir það (I think so, if I remember right). Learn each verb with its case, just like mig langar and mér finnst.

How It Works

Dative person.

  • mér leiðist (I'm bored); past mér leiddist: Leiðist þér? (Are you bored?)
  • mér batnar (I'm getting better); past mér batnaði: Láttu þér batna! (Get well soon!)
  • mér tekst (I manage, I succeed); past mér tókst: Mér tókst að opna hurðina.
  • mér þykir vænt um + accusative (I care about, I'm fond of): Mér þykir vænt um þig. The phrase Mér þykir það leitt means I'm sorry about that.

Accusative person.

  • mig minnir (I seem to remember, I think); past mig minnti: Mig minnir það.
  • mig grunar (I suspect); past mig grunaði: Mig grunaði það!
  • mig dreymir (I dream); past mig dreymdi: Mig dreymdi skrýtinn draum.

The verb does not agree with the person. It stays in the third person singular: Okkur leiddist í gær. Hana grunaði ekkert. If the sentence also has a thing in the nominative plural, the verb agrees with that thing: Mér leiðast svona myndir (I find films like that boring; see nominative objects).

mig minnir or muna? muna is sure: Ég man að hún heitir Anna. mig minnir is less sure: Mig minnir að hún heiti Anna (I think her name is Anna). After mig minnir and mig grunar, the verb in the að-clause is usually in the subjunctive: heiti, not heitir.

Keep the right case. Standard Icelandic keeps the accusative with minna, gruna and dreyma: mig minnir, not mér minnir. Using the dative there is þágufallssýki, which careful speech and writing avoid. A nominative subject does not work either: ég leiðist does not mean I'm bored. (With a plural subject, Þau leiddust means they walked hand in hand.)

Examples (6)

  1. Mér leiðist.

    I'm bored.

    Word by Word: Me(dat) bores.

  2. Mér tókst að opna hurðina!

    I managed to open the door!

    Word by Word: Me(dat) succeeded to open the-door!

  3. Mér þykir vænt um þig.

    I care about you.

    Word by Word: Me(dat) seems dear about you.

  4. Mig minnir að hún heiti Anna.

    I think her name is Anna.

    Word by Word: Me(acc) reminds that she is-called Anna.

    heiti is the subjunctive of heita, used after mig minnir að.

  5. Mig dreymdi skrýtinn draum í nótt.

    I had a strange dream last night.

    Word by Word: Me(acc) dreamed strange dream in night.

  6. Láttu þér batna!

    Get well soon!

    Word by Word: Let-you you(dat) improve!

    batna has a dative person, so after láta the pronoun is þér.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a nominative subject with leiðast to say you are bored.

    Ég leiðist.
    Mér leiðist.

    leiðast in the meaning "be bored" takes a dative person: mér leiðist.

  • Putting minna in the dative instead of the accusative.

    Mér minnir að hann komi á morgun.
    Mig minnir að hann komi á morgun.

    minna takes an accusative person: mig minnir. mér minnir is þágufallssýki and is not standard.

  • Changing the verb to match the person.

    Okkur leiðumst.
    Okkur leiðist.

    The verb stays in the third person singular whoever the person is: okkur leiðist.

How It Connects

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mér leiðist / mig minnirLevel 3More Verbs with Oblique Subjects

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More oblique subjects build on oblique subjects and -st verbs.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

leiðastbatnatakasttekstþykjaminnagrunadreymamérmigokkur