grafa ("to dig; to bury") is a strong Class-6 verb, the a – ó – ó – a family of fara, taka, standa and aka. Class 6 is the tidiest of all the ablaut classes in the past tense — the preterite singular and plural share the same long ó (gróf = gróf-u), so there is no short-vs-long split to track. The catch with grafa lies entirely in the present: the singular stem vowel shifts from a to e (ég gref, hún grefur — never *graf), and the -um plural triggers u-umlaut, turning a into ö (við gröfum). So a single verb shows you three Icelandic sound rules at once: ablaut in the past (gróf), an a → e present shift in the singular, and u-umlaut in gröfum. Beyond the paradigm, grafa covers literal digging, the solemn sense "bury (the dead)," the particle verb grafa upp ("dig up, unearth"), and the excellent middle grafast fyrir um ("investigate, get to the bottom of").
Conjugation
Class: strong, Class 6 (the a – ó – ó – a series). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef grafið "I have dug/buried." Object case: accusative (grafa skurð "dig a ditch," grafa einhvern "bury someone"). Note the present-singular shift a → e (gref, grefur) and the u-umlaut a → ö in gröfum.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að grafa |
| 1sg present | gref |
| 1sg past | gróf |
| 3pl past | grófu |
| Supine | grafið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | gref | gróf |
| þú | grefur | grófst |
| hann / hún / það | grefur | gróf |
| við | gröfum | grófum |
| þið | grafið | grófuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | grafa | grófu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | grafi | græfi |
| þú | grafir | græfir |
| hann / hún / það | grafi | græfi |
| við | gröfum | græfum |
| þið | grafið | græfuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | grafi | græfu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | graf / grafðu |
| Imperative (þið) | grafið! |
| Supine | grafið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | grafinn / grafin / grafið |
| Present participle | grafandi |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | grafast — esp. grafast fyrir um "investigate / get to the bottom of" |
The Class-6 series: a – ó – ó – a, with no past split
Class 6 is the cleanest ablaut series in the language because the long ó runs through the entire preterite, singular and plural alike: ég gróf, hún gróf and við grófum, þeir grófu — same vowel, just different endings. The supine then drops back to the infinitive's a: grafið. Lay grafa beside its classmates and the rhythm is identical:
| Verb | Pres. sg. | Past sg. | Past pl. | Supine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fara (go) | fer | fór | fóru | farið |
| taka (take) | tek | tók | tóku | tekið |
| aka (drive) | ek | ók | óku | ekið |
| grafa (dig) | gref | gróf | grófu | grafið |
Notice that every one of these shifts its present singular vowel away from the infinitive a: fara → fer, taka → tek, aka → ek, grafa → gref. This is the Class-6 present pattern (a fronting of the stem vowel in the present), and it is exactly why *graf for "I dig" sounds as wrong to an Icelander as *goed for "went" does to you.
Ég gref holu fyrir nýja tréð um helgina.
I'm digging a hole for the new tree this weekend. Present singular gref (a→e), accusative object holu.
Hundurinn gróf bein í garðinum.
The dog buried a bone in the garden. Past singular gróf (long ó).
Fornleifafræðingarnir grófu upp heilt langhús.
The archaeologists dug up a whole longhouse. Past plural grófu — same ó as the singular; particle verb grafa upp.
Present forms: gref and gröfum
The present is where learners slip, so look at it closely.
- Singular: a → e. ég gref, þú grefur, hann/hún/það grefur. The stem a of the infinitive grafa fronts to e in the present singular. There is no *graf, *grafur.
- 1st-person plural: u-umlaut a → ö. við gröfum. The -um ending triggers u-umlaut, rounding the a to ö. This is the same rule that gives föllum from falla and gröfum from grafa.
- 2nd/3rd plural keep a. þið grafið, þeir grafa — no umlaut here, because there is no u in the ending.
Af hverju grefur þú alltaf svona djúpt?
Why do you always dig so deep? Present singular grefur (a→e), in a question.
Við gröfum okkur í gegnum skaflinn á hverjum vetri.
We dig our way through the snowdrift every winter. Present plural gröfum (u-umlaut a→ö).
Core meanings: 'dig' and 'bury'
grafa spans two everyday senses. The first is literal digging — grafa holu ("dig a hole"), grafa skurð ("dig a ditch"), grafa göng ("bore a tunnel"). The second is burying the dead: grafa einhvern ("bury someone"), and the participle grafinn in vera grafinn í … ("be buried in / at …"). The related noun gröf means "a grave," and kirkjugarður is the churchyard/cemetery where burial happens. Two particle/idiom patterns are high-value:
- grafa upp — "dig up, unearth, dig out" (literally and figuratively: grafa upp gamlar myndir "dig out old photos").
- grafa undan
- dative — "undermine" (literally "dig under"): grafa undan trausti ("undermine trust").
Hann er grafinn í litlum kirkjugarði fyrir austan.
He's buried in a small churchyard out east. Participle grafinn ('buried'); the solemn sense of grafa.
Geturðu grafið upp kvittunina frá því í fyrra?
Can you dig up the receipt from last year? Particle verb grafa upp ('unearth'), figurative; supine grafið in the modal frame.
The middle voice: grafast fyrir um
The -st middle grafast appears above all in grafast fyrir um ("investigate, get to the bottom of, dig into a matter") — a vivid, common idiom in news and conversation. It conjugates as grafa + -st, keeping the series: present grefst, past singular grófst, past plural grófust, supine grafist.
Blaðamaðurinn ætlar að grafast fyrir um málið.
The journalist intends to get to the bottom of the matter. Middle grafast fyrir um ('investigate'), infinitive.
Lögreglan gróf sig hægt og rólega niður í sönnunargögnin.
The police slowly dug their way down into the evidence. Reflexive grafa sig niður — figurative 'dig into', past singular gróf.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég graf holu í garðinn.
Wrong present vowel — the present singular shifts a→e: gref, not the infinitive-vowel *graf.
✅ Ég gref holu í garðinn.
I'm digging a hole in the garden. (present singular gref, a→e)
The present singular is gref / grefur with e, not *graf / *grafur. This is the Class-6 present fronting, just like fara → fer and aka → ek.
❌ Ég grafaði bein í garðinum.
Regularising a strong verb — grafa has no weak '-aði' past. The past is the strong gróf.
✅ Ég gróf bein í garðinum.
I buried a bone in the garden. (strong past singular gróf)
grafa is strong: past gróf / grófu, supine grafið. No *grafaði.
❌ Við grafum okkur í gegnum snjóinn.
Missing u-umlaut — the present 1pl is gröfum (a→ö), not grafum.
✅ Við gröfum okkur í gegnum snjóinn.
We dig our way through the snow. (present 1pl gröfum, u-umlaut)
The -um ending forces u-umlaut: present 1pl is gröfum, not *grafum.
❌ Þeir grófuð djúpan skurð.
Wrong person ending — 3pl is grófu; grófuð is the 2pl ('you all dug').
✅ Þeir grófu djúpan skurð.
They dug a deep ditch. (past 3pl grófu)
Don't confuse the past plural endings: við grófum, þið grófuð, þeir grófu.
❌ Ég hef gröfið þetta of djúpt.
Wrong supine vowel — the supine returns to a: grafið, not the umlauted *gröfið.
✅ Ég hef grafið þetta of djúpt.
I've dug this too deep. (supine grafið, a-grade)
The supine restores the a: grafið (and participle grafinn / grafin / grafið). The ö belongs only to gröfum; the ó only to the preterite.
Key Takeaways
- grafa is strong Class 6: principal parts gref – gróf – grófu – grafið, series a – ó – ó – a; auxiliary hafa.
- The preterite ó is the same in singular and plural (gróf = grófu) — no split to track, unlike Class 4.
- Present singular shifts a → e (gref, grefur, never *graf), and the 1pl has u-umlaut (gröfum); the supine returns to a (grafið).
- Core senses: literal dig (grafa holu/skurð) and bury (the dead) (grafa einhvern; participle grafinn; noun gröf "grave").
- Useful extensions: particle verb grafa upp ("dig up/unearth"), grafa undan
- dative ("undermine"), and the middle grafast fyrir um ("get to the bottom of").
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
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- 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.
- fara (to go)A1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb fara (fer / fór / fóru / farið), with the vera-perfect (ég er farinn), the inceptive fara að + infinitive, and the middle voice farast.
- taka (to take)A1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb taka (tek / tók / tóku / tekið), the u-umlaut form tökum, its many light-verb idioms (taka þátt, taka eftir), and the dative-subject middle voice takast ('succeed': mér tókst).
- aka (to drive)B2 — Full conjugation of the strong Class-6 verb aka (ek / ók / óku / ekið), on the a–ó–ó–a series of fara, taka and grafa. Covers the present-singular shift a→e (ek, not *ak), the u-umlaut in ökum, the long-ó preterite identical in singular and plural (ók = ók-u), and the crucial point that aka governs the DATIVE of the vehicle (aka bílnum). Contrasts the formal/written aka with the colloquial keyra (accusative).
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