Regular Verbs With a Vowel Change

Level 3

Ég segi (I say) but Ég sagði (I said): some regular verbs change their vowel in the past.

How It Works

The common ones. Given as infinitive, present, past, supine:

  • telja – ég tel – taldi – talið (count; think)
  • velja – ég vel – valdi – valið (choose)
  • spyrja – ég spyr – spurði – spurt (ask)
  • segja – ég segi – sagði – sagt (say)
  • sækja – ég sæki – sótti – sótt (fetch, pick up)
  • þykja – mér þykir – þótti – þótt (seem, be thought)
  • kaupa – ég kaupi – keypti – keypt (buy)

Others you will meet: flytja – flutti (move), leggja – lagði (lay, put), vekja – vakti (wake someone).

selja. selja (sell) has a short present like telja (ég sel, þú selur), but it keeps its e in the past: seldi, selt.

The present. telja, velja, spyrja and selja have a short present with no -i: ég tel, ég spyr. segja, sækja, þykja and kaupa have -i: ég segi, ég kaupi.

The past plural. An a in the past becomes ö in the plural: við töldum, völdum, sögðum (see the a-to-ö change).

The past subjunctive. The past subjunctive brings back a front vowel: taldi → teldi, sagði → segði, spurði → spyrði, sótti → sækti, þótti → þætti. So teldi is a real word, but only as a subjunctive. The plain past is taldi.

Examples (6)

  1. Hún sagði ekkert.

    She didn't say anything.

    Word by Word: She said nothing.

  2. Ég spurði kennarann um orðið.

    I asked the teacher about the word.

  3. Pabbi sótti mig í skólann.

    Dad picked me up from school.

    Word by Word: Dad fetched me in the school.

  4. Við keyptum nýjan sófa í gær.

    We bought a new sofa yesterday.

    Word by Word: We bought new sofa in yesterday.

  5. Hvaða lit valdirðu?

    Which colour did you choose?

    Word by Word: Which colour chose-you?

  6. Mér þótti myndin skemmtileg.

    I thought the film was fun.

    Word by Word: To-me seemed the film fun.

    þykja takes a dative subject: mér.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping the present vowel and adding -aði.

    Hún segjaði ekkert.
    Hún sagði ekkert.

    segja changes its vowel in the past and takes -ði: sagði.

  • Treating kaupa as an -aði verb.

    Við kaupuðum nýjan sófa.
    Við keyptum nýjan sófa.

    kaupa changes au to ey and takes -ti: keypti, and in the plural keyptum.

How It Connects

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

Regular Verbs With a Vowel ChangeLevel 3

Learn This First

Vowel-change regular verbs build on the verb groups.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

teljaveljaspyrjasagðisækjaþykjakaupaseljaseldi