fá ("to get, to receive") is short, irregular, and everywhere. You use it to order in a café (Get ég fengið …? "Can I get …?"), to talk about receiving things, to ask permission (fá að "be allowed to"), and to treat yourself (fá sér "have / get oneself"). It is one of the most irregular verbs in Icelandic — fæ, fékk, fengum, fengið draw on four different stems — so, as with búa, you commit the principal parts to memory rather than deriving them. This page walks through the paradigm and the three idioms that make fá so useful.
Conjugation
Class: strong / irregular (a contracted fá-verb with a -ng- past stem). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef fengið.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að fá |
| 3sg present | fær |
| 3sg past | fékk |
| Supine | fengið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | fæ | fékk |
| þú | færð | fékkst |
| hann / hún / það | fær | fékk |
| við | fáum | fengum |
| þið | fáið | fenguð |
| þeir / þær / þau | fá | fengu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | fái | fengi |
| þú | fáir | fengir |
| hann / hún / það | fái | fengi |
| við | fáum | fengjum |
| þið | fáið | fengjuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | fái | fengju |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | fáðu |
| Imperative (þið) | fáið! |
| Supine | fengið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | fenginn / fengin / fengið |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | fást — "to be available / be obtainable; to deal with" |
Plain "get / receive" + accusative
In its basic sense fá means "get, receive, obtain," with the thing received in the accusative. The polite request Get ég fengið …? ("May I have …?", literally "Can I get …?") is how you order food and drink, so it is worth learning whole.
Get ég fengið einn kaffibolla, takk?
Can I get a coffee, please?
Ég fékk fallega gjöf frá ömmu minni.
I got a beautiful present from my grandmother.
Fékkstu nóg að borða?
Did you get enough to eat?
fá sér — "to have / get oneself" (something)
For helping yourself to food, drink, or a treat, Icelandic uses the benefactive reflexive fá sér + accusative — "to get oneself (something)." The reflexive sér is dative and stays sér for all persons except me/you, where it becomes mér / þér. This is the natural way to say "I'll have a coffee" or "have some cake."
Eigum við að fá okkur ís? Veðrið er svo gott.
Shall we get ourselves some ice cream? The weather's so nice.
Hann fékk sér bjór eftir vinnuna.
He had a beer after work.
fá að — "to be allowed to / get to"
Add að + an infinitive and fá becomes a permission construction: "to be allowed to, to get to." It is the everyday counterpart to the modal mega, with a slightly warmer "get to" flavour.
Má ég fá að sjá þetta?
May I (get to) see that?
Krakkarnir fengu að vaka lengur um helgina.
The kids were allowed to stay up later over the weekend.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég fá kaffi á hverjum morgni.
Incorrect — fá is the infinitive/plural; the 1sg present is fæ
✅ Ég fæ mér kaffi á hverjum morgni.
I have a coffee every morning.
❌ Þú fær mér bókina í gær?
Wrong tense — the past of fá is fékk: 'did you get'
✅ Fékkstu bókina í gær?
Did you get the book yesterday?
❌ Við fáuðum jólagjafir.
Incorrect — the past plural is the irregular fengum, not a weak fáuðum
✅ Við fengum jólagjafir.
We got Christmas presents.
❌ Ég fæ að fara núna?
Understandable, but to ask permission the natural request is Má ég …? or Fæ ég að …?
✅ Fæ ég að fara núna?
Am I allowed to go now?
Key Takeaways
- fá / fær / fékk / fengið — strong and irregular; learn the four parts as one chunk.
- Present singular fæ / færð / fær (vowel æ); plural reverts to fáum / fáið / fá; past is fékk … fengum.
- Plain sense = "get / receive" + accusative; order food with Get ég fengið …?
- fá sér = "have / get oneself" (a treat); fá að
- infinitive = "be allowed to / get to."
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef fengið.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Reflexive Verbs and Inherent ReflexivesB2 — Verbs used with the reflexive pronoun sig/sér/sín. True reflexives (hann þvær sér 'he washes himself') where the reflexive is a real object, versus inherently reflexive verbs (flýta sér, skemmta sér, ná sér) where the reflexive is obligatory and carries no separate meaning. Some require dative sér (flýta sér), some accusative sig (hreyfa sig). Plus the benefactive dative reflexive — fá sér, kaupa sér — that marks an action as 'for one's own benefit'. Crucially, sig/sér/sín is 3rd person ONLY; for 'we hurry' you say flýtum okkur.
- mega, kunna, skulu, munuB1 — Four Icelandic modals beyond geta and vilja: mega 'be allowed/may' (þú mátt fara), kunna 'know how to / might' (ég kann að synda; kann að vera 'maybe'), skulu 'shall — commitment or command' (ég skal hjálpa, þú skalt fara), and munu 'will — neutral prediction' (það mun rigna). The key nuance: skal in the 1st person is a PROMISE and in the 2nd a directive — a performative force English 'shall' has lost — while munu is a detached prediction.
- Strong Verb Classes 4-7B1 — The last four ablaut classes of Icelandic strong verbs: Class 4 (e–a–á–o: bera → bar, báru, borið; nema, stela), Class 5 (e–a–á–e: gefa → gaf, gáfu, gefið; lesa, sjá → sá, sáu, séð), Class 6 (a–ó–ó–a: fara → fór, fóru, farið; taka → tók, standa → stóð), and Class 7 (the reduplicating remnant with é-preterites: halda → hélt, héldu, haldið; láta → lét, falla → féll, ganga → gekk, fá → fékk) — where the most irregular-looking everyday verbs actually live.