English has one tidy phrase for mutual action — each other (or one another) — and it never changes shape: they help each other, they talked to each other, they saw each other. Icelandic does the same job two different ways, and neither maps onto the English phrase cleanly. The first is the phrasal reciprocal hvor annan "each other" (literally "each the-other"), where — unlike invariant English each other — both halves inflect for the case the verb assigns: þau hjálpuðu hvort öðru "they helped each other", with both words in the dative. The second, and often the more natural, is the middle-voice -st verb, which builds reciprocity straight into the verb: þau hittust "they met (each other)", þau kysstust "they kissed". For a cluster of very common verbs — meet, see, talk, kiss — the -st form is what a native speaker actually reaches for, and a phrasal calque sounds laboured. This page is about choosing between the two and inflecting the phrasal one correctly. (The full annar paradigm is on its own page; the general middle voice is covered under Verbs.)
The phrasal reciprocal: hvor annan
The phrasal "each other" is built from two pieces, and the crucial fact is that both of them decline. The first piece, hvor "each (of two)", agrees in gender with the participants. The second piece, annar "the other", takes the case the verb or preposition assigns to the object. English freezes each other solid; Icelandic inflects the front for gender and the back for case, so the phrase reshapes itself in every sentence.
| Case the verb assigns | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter / mixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accusative | hvor annan | hvor aðra | hvort annað |
| Dative | hvor öðrum | hvor annarri | hvort öðru |
| Genitive | hvor annars | hvor annarrar | hvort annars |
The neuter column (hvort annað, hvort öðru) is the one you will use most, because it is the default for a mixed-gender pair — a man and a woman, "they" of unknown make-up. The masculine and feminine columns are for same-sex pairs. And the case is dictated entirely by the verb: a plain transitive verb gives the accusative (sáu hvort annað "saw each other"), a dative-governing verb like hjálpa "help" gives the dative (hjálpuðu hvort öðru), and a preposition pulls its own case.
Þau sáu hvort annað á tónleikunum í gær.
They saw each other at the concert yesterday. 'sjá' is transitive → accusative; mixed pair → neuter 'hvort annað'.
Systkinin hjálpa hvort öðru með heimanámið.
The siblings help each other with their homework. 'hjálpa' governs the dative → 'hvort öðru' (mixed pair, neuter).
Strákarnir slógust og meiddu hvor annan.
The boys fought and hurt each other. All-male pair → masculine 'hvor annan' (accusative).
Vinkonurnar treysta hvor annarri fullkomlega.
The (female) friends trust each other completely. 'treysta' governs the dative; all-female pair → feminine 'hvor annarri'.
Two or more: hvor vs hver
The choice between hvor and hver is the same distinction as elsewhere in the language: hvor is "each of two", hver is "each of more than two". So for a couple, two friends, two countries, you use hvor annan; for a group of three or more, you switch the front word to hver — hver annan "each other" among many. The back word annar declines identically in both.
Hjónin elska hvort annað eftir öll þessi ár.
The married couple love each other after all these years. Two people → 'hvor', mixed/neuter → 'hvort annað'.
Liðsmennirnir hvöttu hver annan áfram.
The team members urged each other on. More than two → 'hver annan' (a whole team).
The -st reciprocal: built into the verb
For a core set of high-frequency verbs, Icelandic does not use a phrase at all — it folds the reciprocity into the verb with the middle-voice -st suffix. The -st attaches after the personal ending (hittu + st → hittust), and the resulting verb means "do X to each other": hittast "meet (each other)", sjást "see each other", talast við "talk to each other", kyssast "kiss", faðmast "hug", heilsast "greet each other". With these, the subject is plural and there is no object phrase — the verb already carries the "each other".
| Plain verb | -st reciprocal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hitta (meet someone) | hittast | meet (each other) |
| sjá (see) | sjást | see each other |
| kyssa (kiss) | kyssast | kiss (each other) |
| tala við (talk to) | talast við | talk to each other |
| faðma (hug) | faðmast | hug (each other) |
Við hittumst fyrir utan bíóið klukkan átta.
We'll meet (each other) outside the cinema at eight. '-st' reciprocal 'hittast' — no 'each other' phrase needed.
Þau kysstust í fyrsta skipti á gamlárskvöld.
They kissed (each other) for the first time on New Year's Eve. 'kyssast' carries the reciprocity in the verb.
Við höfum ekki sést í mörg ár.
We haven't seen each other in years. 'sjást' (here the supine 'sést') — the -st verb is the idiomatic 'see each other'.
Eigum við að talast við í kvöld?
Shall we talk to each other tonight? 'talast við' — the reciprocal of 'tala við'.
Which one to use — and don't combine them
The two strategies are not interchangeable in feel. For the high-frequency social verbs — meet, see, talk, kiss, hug, greet — the -st form is the idiomatic choice, and a phrasal calque sounds like translated foreigner-speech. A native speaker says þau hittust "they met", not \þau hittu hvort annað; *við sjáumst! "see you!" (literally "we'll see each other"), not a phrasal version. For verbs without an established -st reciprocal — hjálpa "help", treysta "trust", skilja "understand", þekkja "know" — you use the phrasal hvor annan instead.
The error to avoid above all is combining the two, because the -st verb already contains "each other": adding hvort annað on top is redundant. Þau hittust fully means "they met each other", so \þau hittust hvort annað* doubles up the reciprocal — like saying "they met-each-other each other" in English.
Þau hittust á kaffihúsi og töluðu saman í tvo tíma.
They met at a café and talked together for two hours. 'hittust' alone = 'met each other' — no phrase needed.
Sjáumst á morgun!
See you tomorrow! (literally 'we'll see each other'). The everyday goodbye — pure -st reciprocal, never a phrasal version.
The minimal pair: sáu hvort annað vs sáust
The two systems meet head-on with sjá "see", which has both a transitive form and an -st reciprocal. Compare:
Þau sáu hvort annað yfir salinn en gátu ekki talað saman.
They saw each other across the room but couldn't talk. Phrasal 'sáu hvort annað' — possible, emphasising the two as distinct seers.
Þau sáust ekki í allan vetur.
They didn't see each other all winter. '-st' form 'sáust' — the natural, idiomatic way to say 'see each other (over time)'.
Both are correct, but they differ in flavour: the phrasal sáu hvort annað foregrounds the two people as separate parties to a single act of seeing (good when you want to stress the mutual glance), while the -st sáust is the unmarked, idiomatic "saw each other / met up" — the one a speaker defaults to for ongoing or habitual mutual seeing. When in doubt with these social verbs, the -st form is the safer, more native choice.
Why this trips up English speakers
Two English habits collide with Icelandic here. First, English each other is invariant, so the instinct is to drop in a single frozen phrase and inflect nothing — producing an uninflected calque where Icelandic needs hvor to agree in gender and annan/öðru to take the verb's case. Second, English has no productive reciprocal verbs — there is no verb "to meet-each-other" distinct from "to meet" — so English speakers don't think to reach for a special verb form at all, and miss the -st reciprocal that a native would use by default. The two corrections are: when you do use the phrase, inflect both halves (gender on hvor, case on annan); and for the common social verbs, prefer the -st verb and don't bolt a redundant phrase onto it.
Common Mistakes
❌ Þau hjálpuðu hvor annar.
Incorrect — 'hjálpa' governs the dative and the pair is mixed, so it's 'hvort öðru', not the uninflected nominative 'hvor annar'.
✅ Þau hjálpuðu hvort öðru.
They helped each other. Dative 'öðru' (verb-assigned) + neuter 'hvort' (mixed pair).
❌ Þau hittust hvort annað á kaffihúsi.
Incorrect — 'hittust' already means 'met each other'; adding 'hvort annað' is redundant.
✅ Þau hittust á kaffihúsi.
They met (each other) at a café. The -st verb carries the reciprocity alone.
❌ Við hittum hvort annað á morgun.
Unidiomatic — for 'meet (up with) each other' the natural form is the -st verb 'hittumst', not a phrasal calque.
✅ Við hittumst á morgun.
We'll meet tomorrow. Idiomatic -st reciprocal.
❌ Strákarnir slógust og meiddu hvort annað.
Incorrect gender — an all-male pair takes masculine 'hvor annan', not the neuter 'hvort annað' (which is for mixed pairs).
✅ Strákarnir slógust og meiddu hvor annan.
The boys fought and hurt each other. Masculine 'hvor annan' for an all-male pair.
❌ Liðsmennirnir hvöttu hvor annan.
Incorrect — a team is more than two, so 'each other' is 'hver annan' (many), not 'hvor annan' (exactly two).
✅ Liðsmennirnir hvöttu hver annan.
The team members urged each other on. 'hver annan' for a group of more than two.
Key Takeaways
- Icelandic says "each other" two ways: the phrasal hvor annan and the middle-voice -st verb.
- In hvor annan, both words inflect: hvor agrees in gender (neut. hvort for a mixed pair), annan takes the case the verb assigns (acc. annað, dat. öðru) — þau hjálpuðu hvort öðru.
- hvor for exactly two parties, hver for three or more (hver annan).
- The -st reciprocal lexicalises "each other" for high-frequency social verbs — hittast, sjást, talast við, kyssast, faðmast — and is the idiomatic choice; the -st attaches after the verb ending (hittu-st).
- Never combine them: þau hittust already means "they met each other", so \þau hittust hvort annað* is redundant.
- English each other is invariant and English has no reciprocal verbs — so inflect both halves of the phrase, and prefer the -st verb for the common social verbs.
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- annar: 'another', 'the other', 'second'B1 — The high-frequency, irregularly declined Icelandic word annar — 'another / the other / second / one of two' — covering its unique paradigm (annar / önnur / annað, annan, öðrum, annars), the correlative annar … hinn, its double life as the ordinal 'second', and the reciprocal hvor annan 'each other'.
- The Middle Voice (-st): OverviewB1 — An orientation to the Icelandic middle voice — the verb form built by suffixing -st — covering its four meaning-types (reflexive, reciprocal, anticausative/passive-like, and lexicalised) and the crucial fact that the meaning of an -st verb is not predictable from its base, so many are their own dictionary entries.
- Reciprocal and Anticausative -stB2 — The two most productive jobs of the -st middle voice: the reciprocal ('each other' — hittast, sjást, kyssast, berjast) and the anticausative ('happen by itself' — opnast, lokast, breytast). How the reciprocal folds in English 'each other' and the anticausative detransitivises a verb, plus why the anticausative is Icelandic's natural alternative to a passive for events with no agent.
- hittast (to meet each other)B1 — Full conjugation of hittast (hittumst / hittust / hittust / hist), the reciprocal middle voice of hitta, meaning 'meet each other / meet up'. Inherently plural; the -st already encodes 'each other', so adding hvort annað is redundant. Covers við hittumst, the past hittumst/hittust, and the contrast with active hitta.
- sjást (to be seen / to see each other)B2 — Full conjugation of sjást (sést / sást / sáumst / sést), the middle voice of sjá, with its two readings: anticausative 'be visible / be seen' (það sést ekki neitt) and reciprocal 'see each other' (við sjáumst! — the everyday goodbye).