Past Tense With a Vowel Change

Level 2

Strong verbs form the past with a new vowel: fara → Ég fór heim (I went home).

How It Works

The endings. Using fara:

  • ég fór, þú fórst, hann / hún / það fór
  • við fórum, þið fóruð, þeir / þær / þau fóru

þú takes -st (komst, tókst, sást, fékkst), or just -t when the stem ends in s: lesa → þú last.

Common strong verbs. Learn the past singular and the past plural together:

  • fara → fór, fórum
  • koma → kom, komum
  • taka → tók, tókum
  • sjá → sá, sáum
  • gefa → gaf, gáfum
  • lesa → las, lásum
  • drekka → drakk, drukkum
  • fá → fékk, fengum
  • ganga → gekk, gengum
  • búa → bjó, bjuggum

The vowel in the plural is not always the singular vowel, so the plural is one of the verb's principal parts. The vowels follow families such as drekka, drakk, drukkum, drukkið; see strong verb patterns.

How to spot a strong verb. Many strong verbs already change their vowel in the present singular (fara → ég fer; see present tense of strong verbs). Their supine usually ends in -ið: farið, komið, tekið (but sjá → séð). They never take the regular endings -aði or -ði.

The very common verbs vera, hafa, eiga and vita have their own past forms: see var/hafði/átti/vissi.

Examples (6)

  1. Ég fór heim klukkan fimm.

    I went home at five.

    Word by Word: I went home at-clock five.

  2. Hvert fórstu í sumarfríinu?

    Where did you go on your summer holiday?

    Word by Word: Where-to went-you in the-summer-holiday?

    fórstu is fórst þú joined together.

  3. Við fengum bréf frá ömmu.

    We got a letter from Grandma.

    Word by Word: We got letter from grandma.

    fá → fékk in the singular, but fengum in the plural.

  4. Hún drakk kaffi og las blaðið.

    She drank coffee and read the newspaper.

    Word by Word: She drank coffee and read the-paper.

  5. Þau komu seint heim.

    They came home late.

    Word by Word: They came late home.

  6. Ég sá hana í búðinni.

    I saw her in the shop.

    Word by Word: I saw her in the-shop.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding a regular ending to a strong verb.

    Ég faraði heim.
    Ég fór heim.

    fara is a strong verb. Its past is fór, with a new vowel and no ending.

  • Keeping the singular vowel in the plural.

    Við gafum honum bók.
    Við gáfum honum bók.

    gefa has gaf in the singular but gáfum in the plural. Learn both forms.

  • Leaving out the -st ending for þú.

    Þú fór snemma heim.
    Þú fórst snemma heim.

    With þú the past of a strong verb ends in -st: fórst.

How It Connects

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

Past Tense With a Vowel ChangeLevel 2

Learn This First

The strong past builds on strong verbs and the -aði past.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-um-u