muna

Remember (Muna)

Level 3

muna means remember: Ég man það ekki (I don't remember it). Its present singular forms are man, manst, man.

How It Works

Forms. muna does not take the usual present endings:

  • ég man, þú manst, hann/hún/það man
  • við munum, þið munið, þeir/þær/þau muna

The past is regular: ég mundi, þú mundir, hún mundi, við mundum, þið munduð, þau mundu. The supine is munað (Ég hef aldrei munað það), and the command is mundu. In a question, þú joins the verb: manstu? (see joined forms).

Three common patterns.

  • muna + a thing or a clause: Ég man það ekki. Ég man ekki hvað hún heitir.
  • muna eftir + dative, to remember a person, thing or event: Ég man vel eftir honum. Manstu eftir ferðinni?
  • muna að + infinitive, to remember to do something: Mundu að læsa hurðinni!

muna or munu? The verb munu means will, and its forms look similar. Ég mun koma means I will come, but Ég man það means I remember it. The form mundi can also be another form of myndi (would), so the rest of the sentence shows which verb is meant.

Sure or not quite sure. muna is for things you really remember. When you are not quite sure, say mig minnir: Mig minnir að hún heiti Anna (I think her name is Anna). The opposite of muna is gleyma (forget), which takes a dative object: Ég gleymdi því (see verbs with a dative object).

Examples (6)

  1. Ég man það ekki.

    I don't remember.

    Word by Word: I remember it not.

  2. Manstu eftir mér?

    Do you remember me?

    Word by Word: Remember-you after me?

    muna eftir + dative is the usual way to remember a person: mér is dative.

  3. Ég man ekki hvað hún heitir.

    I can't remember her name.

    Word by Word: I remember not what she is-called.

  4. Mundu að læsa hurðinni!

    Remember to lock the door!

    Word by Word: Remember to lock the-door!

    mundu is the command form; muna að + infinitive means to remember to do something.

  5. Við mundum ekki eftir afmælinu hennar.

    We forgot her birthday.

    Word by Word: We remembered not after the-birthday her.

    mundum is the past plural; afmælinu is dative after eftir.

  6. Ég man vel eftir fyrsta deginum mínum á Íslandi.

    I remember my first day in Iceland well.

    Word by Word: I remember well after first the-day my on Iceland.

Common Mistakes

  • Using man for þú instead of manst.

    Þú man ekki eftir mér.
    Þú manst ekki eftir mér.

    The þú form of muna ends in -st: þú manst. Only ég and hann/hún use man.

  • Saying ég mun when you mean "I remember".

    Ég mun það ekki.
    Ég man það ekki.

    ég mun is a form of munu and means "I will". For remember, the present form is man.

How It Connects

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

munaLevel 3Remember (Muna)

Learn This First

muna builds on vita and eftir.

Words in This Pattern

munamanmundieftirmuna eftir