falla ("to fall") belongs to strong Class 7, the old reduplicating class, and it is one of the most useful members to learn because so many high-frequency verbs follow the same template. The defining trait of this class is that the stem vowel does not ablaut to a new vowel the way it does in Classes 1–6; instead the preterite is marked by a long é while the stem vowel returns unchanged in the supine. For falla the pattern is a – é – é – a: present fell, preterite singular and plural féll / féllu, supine fallið. Learn this shape on falla and you have the key to halda (hold), láta (let), gráta (cry), and blása (blow). Two pronunciation points ride along: the ll is the pre-stopped [tl], and the present plural shows u-umlaut (föllum).
Conjugation
Class: strong, Class 7 (reduplicating), series a – é – é – a. Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef fallið "I have fallen." Note the u-umlaut a → ö in the present plural við föllum (triggered by the -um ending), and the long é running right through the preterite.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að falla |
| 1sg present | fell |
| 1sg past | féll |
| 3pl past | féllu |
| Supine | fallið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | fell | féll |
| þú | fellur | féllst |
| hann / hún / það | fellur | féll |
| við | föllum | féllum |
| þið | fallið | félluð |
| þeir / þær / þau | falla | féllu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | falli | félli |
| þú | fallir | féllir |
| hann / hún / það | falli | félli |
| við | föllum | féllum |
| þið | fallið | félluð |
| þeir / þær / þau | falli | félli |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | fall / fall þú |
| Imperative (þið) | fallið! |
| Supine | fallið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | fallinn / fallin / fallið |
| Present participle | fallandi |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | fallast — esp. fallast á "to agree on" |
Pronunciation: that ll is [tl]
Every form with ll — falla, fallið, fallinn, falli — has the pre-stopped lateral [tl]: falla is [fatla], not a long English l. Begin a [t] with the tongue tip on the ridge and release it sideways into the l. Only the föllum/féll forms break the ll (the ll is still there in féll, giving [fjɛtl̥], with a partly voiceless final lateral before a pause). This is the same sound discussed on the ll, rl, nn, rn page, and falla is a perfect verb to drill it on.
Passaðu þig, ekki falla á svellinu!
Watch out, don't fall on the ice! — falla = [fatla], ll pre-stopped to [tl]. A very common warning in an Icelandic winter.
Laufin falla af trjánum á haustin.
The leaves fall off the trees in autumn. — present 3pl falla; note the soft, natural [tl] in the ll.
The preterite: féll (sg.) and féllu (pl.)
Both numbers of the preterite carry the long é: ég féll, hann féll in the singular, við féllum, þeir féllu in the plural. There is no short-vowel plural here (contrast Class 1's beit / bitu). The supine then drops back to the stem a: fallið.
Hún féll í prófinu en tók það aftur og náði.
She failed the exam but retook it and passed. — past sg féll; 'falla á/í prófi' = to fail an exam. Note the long é.
Margir hermenn féllu í þessari orrustu.
Many soldiers fell in this battle. — past pl féllu, here in the 'die in battle' sense, a standard literary/formal use of falla.
Gengið hefur fallið mikið undanfarið.
The exchange rate has dropped a lot lately. — supine fallið in the perfect; falla also means 'drop/decline' of prices, rates, temperatures.
Object construction: falla á + accusative
falla is intransitive in its basic "fall" sense, but it heads several fixed constructions. Falla á + accusative means "to fail (a test)" — falla á prófinu / falla á prófi — and more literally "fall onto." falla um means "fall over / be voted down" (of a motion). The verb also reaches into many idioms: falla í gildi "come into effect," falla frá "pass away," mér fellur það vel "it suits me / I like it" (with a dative experiencer).
Mér fellur vel við nýju samstarfskonuna mína.
I get on well with my new (female) colleague. — 'falla vel við e-n' = to get on with someone; mér is a dative experiencer.
The middle voice: fallast á
The -st middle fallast appears chiefly in the idiom fallast á ("to agree on / accept"), and in fallast hendur ("to be at a loss," literally "the hands fall"). It conjugates as falla + -st: present fellst, past féllst, supine fallist.
Að lokum féllust þau á málamiðlun.
In the end they agreed on a compromise. — middle féllust á = 'agreed on'. The past keeps the é of falla plus -st.
Henni féllust hendur þegar hún heyrði fréttirnar.
She was at a loss when she heard the news. — idiom 'e-m fallast hendur' with a dative experiencer; literally 'the hands fall'.
The Class-7 family: halda, láta, gráta, blása
The reward for learning falla is the rest of Class 7. They all keep the stem vowel in present and supine and take a long preterite vowel (é or é-like / ie), with the same broad rhythm:
| Verb | Present | Past sg. | Past pl. | Supine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| falla (fall) | fell | féll | féllu | fallið |
| halda (hold) | held | hélt | héldu | haldið |
| láta (let) | læt | lét | létu | látið |
| gráta (cry) | græt | grét | grétu | grátið |
| blása (blow) | blæs | blés | blésu | blásið |
Notice the shared logic: the supine restores the infinitive's vowel (haldið, látið, grátið, blásið), and the preterite is the long é/é-coloured vowel. halda even mirrors falla's u-umlaut and pre-stopped cluster patterns elsewhere in its paradigm. Treat falla as the index card for the whole class.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég fallaði á prófinu.
Incorrect — falla is strong Class 7, not weak; there is no '-aði'. The past is 'féll': 'ég féll á prófinu'.
✅ Ég féll á prófinu.
I failed the exam.
Regularising falla to a weak -aði past is the classic error. The preterite is the strong long-é féll.
❌ Laufin fellu af trjánum.
Incorrect — the past plural keeps the long é: 'féllu', not short 'fellu'. (Note: 'fellu' would also be the present subjunctive, a different form.)
✅ Laufin féllu af trjánum.
The leaves fell off the trees.
Unlike Class 1, Class 7 has no short-vowel plural — the past plural féllu keeps the same é as the singular féll.
❌ Ég hef féllið niður stigann.
Incorrect — the supine restores the stem a: 'fallið', not 'féllið'. The é belongs to the preterite only.
✅ Ég hef fallið niður stigann.
I have fallen down the stairs.
The supine drops the preterite é and returns to a: fallið. Don't carry the é into the perfect.
❌ Við fallum á þetta.
Wrong on two counts — present 1pl has u-umlaut ('föllum'), and 'agree on' is the MIDDLE 'fallast á': 'við föllumst á þetta'.
✅ Við föllumst á þetta.
We agree on this.
Two traps in one: the a → ö u-umlaut in föllum, and the fact that "agree on" is the -st middle fallast á, not active falla.
Key Takeaways
- falla is strong Class 7 (reduplicating), series a – é – é – a: fell (pres.), féll / féllu (past sg./pl.), fallið (supine), fallinn (participle).
- The preterite carries a long é in both singular and plural (féll, féllu) — there is no short-vowel past plural.
- The present plural shows u-umlaut: við föllum.
- The ll is pronounced [tl] (pre-stopped): falla = [fatla].
- Key constructions: falla á
- accusative "fail (a test) / fall onto," the dative-experiencer mér fellur vel, and the middle fallast á "agree on."
- Learning falla unlocks the Class-7 look-alikes halda, láta, gráta, blása, which all keep the stem vowel in present/supine and take a long preterite vowel.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- 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.
- Strong Verb Class Reference KeyB1 — A navigation hub for the seven Icelandic strong-verb ablaut classes — each with its vowel series (infinitive – preterite singular – preterite plural – supine) and 2–3 exemplar verbs — so that knowing a verb's class lets you predict its whole paradigm. Turns ~150 strong verbs into seven patterns plus exceptions.
- halda (to hold / think / keep)A2 — Full conjugation of the strong verb halda (held / hélt / héldu / haldið), its two great senses — 'hold/keep' (+ dat.) and 'think/believe' (halda að…) — plus halda áfram, halda upp á, and the middle voice haldast.
- látaB1 — Full conjugation of the strong Class-7 verb láta (læt / lét / létu / látið), 'to let / make / have done', with its signature causative láta + infinitive ('have something done', ég lét gera við bílinn), the idioms láta sem 'pretend' and láta vel 'behave', and the middle látast 'pretend / pass away'.
- gráta (to cry / to weep)B2 — Full conjugation of the strong Class-7 verb gráta (græt / grét / grétu / grátið), one of the reduplicating é-preterite verbs alongside halda, láta and falla. Covers the present-singular i-umlaut á→æ (græt, not *grát), the long-é preterite that is the same in singular and plural (grét = grét-u), the construction gráta yfir 'weep over', the accusative cognate object (gráta beiskum tárum is dative; gráta sárt etc.), and the middle grátast.
- The ll, rl, nn, rn ClustersB1 — The four clusters ll, rl, nn, and rn are NOT long l's and n's — they are pre-stopped: ll and rl become [tl] (a t-stop released laterally), nn and rn become [tn] (a t-stop released through the nose). This is why Eyjafjallajökull, kalla, vatn and horn sound the way they do. The trickiest twist is the spelling -nn, which is [tn] after a long vowel, diphthong or accented vowel (einn, steinn) but plain [n] in the short-vowelled definite-article ending -inn (bíllinn, hesturinn) — same letters, opposite sound, decided entirely by vowel length.