This is the conjugation reference for gera, "to do / make" — a very high-frequency verb that is technically weak (regular) but worth memorising whole because you will say it constantly. The biggest thing to learn here is negative: despite meaning "do," gera does not behave like English "do." It does not form questions, it does not carry negation, and it does not add emphasis. Forget the English helper-verb "do" entirely when you switch into Icelandic.
Conjugation
The four principal parts are gera / gerir / gerði / gert. It is a weak verb of the -ði preterite class, so the past is built by adding -ði to the stem. There is no u-umlaut here, because the stem vowel is e, not a — so the við-forms stay gerum / gerðum (compare hafa, which umlauts).
| Principal part | Form |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að gera |
| Present (3sg) | gerir |
| Past (3sg) | gerði |
| Supine | gert |
Indicative — present and past:
| Person | Present | Past |
|---|---|---|
| ég (I) | geri | gerði |
| þú (you sg.) | gerir | gerðir |
| hann / hún / það (he/she/it) | gerir | gerði |
| við (we) | gerum | gerðum |
| þið (you pl.) | gerið | gerðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau (they) | gera | gerðu |
Subjunctive, imperative, non-finite:
| Form | Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present subjunctive | geri, gerir, geri, gerum, gerið, geri |
| Past subjunctive | gerði, gerðir, gerði, gerðum, gerðuð, gerðu |
| Imperative (sg / pl) | gerðu / gerið |
| Supine / past participle | gert / gerður, gerð, gert |
| Middle voice (-st) | gerast — "to happen, to become" |
gera as a full verb: "do" and "make"
Gera covers both English "do" (perform an action) and "make" (produce, cause). Icelandic does not split these the way English does.
Hvað ertu að gera?
What are you doing?
Ég gerði ekkert í gær.
I didn't do anything yesterday.
Hún gerði köku handa okkur.
She made a cake for us.
Þetta gerir ekkert til.
It doesn't matter / no harm done. (a fixed phrase, literally 'this does nothing to')
The big difference: no do-support
In English, "do" pulls triple duty as a grammatical helper — in questions ("Do you know?"), in negatives ("I do not know"), and for emphasis ("I do know!"). Icelandic uses none of this. Questions are formed by inverting the verb and subject; negation simply adds ekki; emphasis is carried by stress or word order.
Talarðu ensku?
Do you speak English? (invert verb + subject — no 'do')
Ég veit það ekki.
I don't know. (just ekki — no 'do')
Ég veit það svo sannarlega!
I do know it! (emphasis via an adverb, not a helper verb)
So the moment you reach for "do" as a helper, stop: in Icelandic that slot is empty. Gera only appears when "do/make" is the actual meaning of the sentence. (More on question formation at questions/overview.)
Light-verb collocations: gera + noun
Gera is a workhorse in fixed "light verb" phrases, where it combines with a noun to express a single idea. These are worth learning as units — they are extremely common in spoken and written Icelandic.
Ég geri ráð fyrir að hún komi.
I expect / assume she'll come. (gera ráð fyrir — 'to expect/assume')
Hann gerði grein fyrir málinu.
He explained / accounted for the matter. (gera grein fyrir — 'to account for, explain')
Gerðu svo vel!
Here you go! / You're welcome! / Help yourself! (gera svo vel — the all-purpose courtesy phrase)
Note that gera ráð fyrir and gera grein fyrir both govern the dative after fyrir (fyrir málinu, dative of málið) — the preposition fixes the case, not the verb.
The middle voice: gerast
The -st form gerast shifts the meaning to "happen" or "become / come to pass" — events occurring on their own rather than being done by someone.
Hvað gerðist?
What happened? (gerast — middle voice, 'to happen')
Hann gerðist kennari.
He became a teacher. (gerast — 'to become')
Common Mistakes
❌ Gerir þú tala íslensku?
Incorrect — there is no do-support; don't insert gera to ask a question.
✅ Talar þú íslensku?
Do you speak Icelandic? (invert the real verb)
❌ Ég geri ekki vita.
Incorrect — negation is just ekki on the real verb; no helper gera.
✅ Ég veit það ekki.
I don't know.
❌ Við gerðum-um köku.
Incorrect form — 'we made' is gerðum; don't double the ending or add umlaut.
✅ Við gerðum köku.
We made a cake.
❌ Ég geri ráð fyrir hana.
Incorrect case — fyrir governs the dative, so it's fyrir henni, not the accusative hana.
✅ Ég geri ráð fyrir henni.
I'm counting on her / expecting her.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: gera / gerir / gerði / gert. Weak -ði preterite, no u-umlaut (the stem vowel is e): gerum / gerðum.
- The defining lesson: no do-support. Gera appears only when "do/make" is the real meaning. Questions invert the verb; negatives just add ekki.
- Gera covers both "do" and "make" — Icelandic doesn't distinguish them.
- Learn the light-verb phrases as units: gera ráð fyrir (expect), gera grein fyrir (account for), gera svo vel (here you go); both fyrir-phrases take the dative.
- The middle voice gerast means "to happen" or "to become" (Hvað gerðist? — What happened?).
Now practice Icelandic
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Asking Questions: Inversion and IntonationA1 — The two ways Icelandic builds questions — yes/no questions by putting the finite verb first, and wh-questions by fronting a question word — with no 'do'-support and the spoken clitic forms ertu, áttu, viltu.
- The Weak Preterite: -aði, -di, -ði, -tiA2 — How to choose and form the weak past tense — Class-1 -a verbs take -aði (tala → talaði, plural töluðum), Class-2 verbs take the short dental -di/-ði/-ti picked by the preceding sound (reyndi, dæmdi, keypti) — with the full tala paradigm and the 'when in doubt, -aði' default for unknown verbs.