horfa | Icelandic Grammar

horfa ("to watch / look") is the verb for directing your gaze — keeping your eyes deliberately on something, whether a film, a sunset, or a person across the room. It is a regular weak Class-2 verb (horfi, horf ði, horft), so the conjugation holds no surprises; the whole difficulty sits in two places. First, horfa almost never takes a plain object — it reaches its target through á + accusative (horfa á sjónvarpið "watch TV"). Second, English "look / watch / see" maps onto a small family of Icelandic verbs — horfa, sjá, líta, skoða — that are not interchangeable, and choosing the wrong one is the giveaway of a learner. Orthographic note: the preterite stem takes a ð, never a d — horfði, horfðu, horft (the f + ð cluster is pronounced like [v] + [ð]).

Conjugation

Class: weak, Class 2 (the -ði preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef horft "I have watched." The stem horf- is stable throughout; the o never u-umlauts (the rule only touches a short stem a), so við horfum keeps its o.

Principal parts
Infinitive	að horfa
1sg present	horfi
1sg past	horfði
3pl past	horfðu
Supine	horft

Person	Present (nútíð)	Past (þátíð)
ég	horfi	horfði
þú	horfir	horfðir
hann / hún / það	horfir	horfði
við	horfum	horfðum
þið	horfið	horfðuð
þeir / þær / þau	horfa	horfðu

Person	Present subjunctive	Past subjunctive
ég	horfi	horfði
þú	horfir	horfðir
hann / hún / það	horfi	horfði
við	horfum	horfðum
þið	horfið	horfðuð
þeir / þær / þau	horfi	horfðu

Non-finite & imperative
Imperative (þú)	horfðu!
Imperative (þið)	horfið!
Supine	horft
Past participle (m/f/n)	horfður / horfð / horft
Middle voice (miðmynd)	horfast — esp. horfast í augu "to look each other in the eye"

💡

The conjugation is the easy part — horfa is a textbook -ði verb with a fixed stem. Spend your effort on the case frame instead: horfa á + accusative. You don't "watch the film," you "watch at the film": horfa á myndina.

horfa á + accusative — the core construction

In its everyday sense, horfa needs the preposition á, and á in this directional sense takes the accusative. So you horfir á sjónvarpið (watch the TV), á myndina (the film), á mig (at me). Without á, bare horfa survives only with adverbs of direction (horfa fram "look ahead," horfa niður "look down"), where there is no object at all.

Við horfðum á úrslitaleikinn saman heima hjá Önnu.

We watched the final together at Anna's place. — horfa á + accusative (úrslitaleikinn); the standard way to say 'watch a match'.

Af hverju horfir þú alltaf á mig svona?

Why do you always look at me like that? — horfa á + accusative mig; deliberate, sustained gaze, not a quick glance.

Ég nenni ekki að horfa á neitt í kvöld — ég er búinn á því.

I don't feel like watching anything tonight — I'm wiped out. — horfa á + accusative; everyday colloquial register.

horfa vs. sjá — watching is not seeing

This is the distinction that trips up every English speaker, because English "see" and "watch" both translate the eyes onto a thing. In Icelandic:

sjá = to perceive with the eyes — an involuntary state. Ég sé fjallið "I (can) see the mountain." It usually takes a direct accusative object (no á).
horfa á = to direct your gaze deliberately — a controlled activity. Ég horfi á fjallið "I'm looking at / watching the mountain."

You sérð a film advertised; you horfir á it for two hours. You sérð someone walk in; you horfir á them if you keep staring. The underlying logic is the same one that separates English see (a state of perception) from watch (an activity you can start, stop and choose) — Icelandic simply marks the activity overtly, with the directional á. A useful test: if you could replace English "watch" with "keep looking at," it is horfa á; if you could replace it with "be aware of," it is sjá. Because sjá is a perception verb, it also pairs naturally with the modal geta ("can see," ég get séð), whereas you rarely say "I can watch" in that sense.

Ég sé þig vel héðan, en ég er ekki að horfa á þig.

I can see you fine from here, but I'm not watching you. — sjá = perceive (accusative þig, no á); horfa á = deliberately watch.

Sástu hvað gerðist? — Nei, ég var að horfa á símann minn.

Did you see what happened? — No, I was looking at my phone. — sjá for the (missed) perception; horfa á for the sustained activity that caused the miss.

horfa vs. líta vs. skoða — gaze, glance, examine

Three more neighbours, each with a sharp profile:

Verb	Case frame	Sense
horfa á	á + accusative	watch, keep one's gaze on (sustained)
líta á	á + accusative	take a (quick) look at, glance
skoða	direct accusative	examine, look something over / inspect
sjá	direct accusative	see, perceive

The contrast that matters most in practice is horfa á vs. skoða. You horfir á a painting from your seat (you gaze at it); you skoðar it when you go up close to study the brushwork — and crucially, skoða takes a direct accusative, no á. The difference is purpose: horfa á is gazing for its own sake (entertainment, attention, contemplation), while skoða is looking in order to learn or judge something — inspecting, examining, viewing-with-intent. Online, you skoðar vefsíðu (browse / look through a website to find or assess something), but you horfir á a video on it (you watch it unfold). A doctor skoðar a patient (examines); a tourist horfir á the geyser (watches it erupt) but skoðar the museum (works through the exhibits).

Ég ætla að skoða íbúðina á morgun áður en ég ákveð nokkuð.

I'm going to view the flat tomorrow before I decide anything. — skoða = inspect/view (direct accusative íbúðina, no á), not horfa.

Líttu á þetta augnablik — sérðu eitthvað skrítið?

Take a quick look at this for a sec — do you see anything odd? — líta á for a glance; sjá for the resulting perception.

The middle voice: horfast í augu

The -st form horfast is reciprocal and survives mainly in the fixed idiom horfast í augu "to look each other in the eye," and figuratively horfast í augu við "to face up to (a problem)."

Við verðum að horfast í augu við vandann í stað þess að fresta honum.

We have to face up to the problem instead of putting it off. — horfast í augu við = confront/face; a very common figurative idiom.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ég sé sjónvarpið á hverju kvöldi.

Incorrect — sjá is 'perceive'; the activity of watching TV is 'horfa á sjónvarpið'.

✅ Ég horfi á sjónvarpið á hverju kvöldi.

I watch TV every evening.

The number-one error: using sjá for "watch." sjá is passive perception; the deliberate activity is horfa á.

❌ Við horfðum myndina í gærkvöldi.

Incorrect — horfa needs the preposition á: 'horfðum á myndina'.

✅ Við horfðum á myndina í gærkvöldi.

We watched the film last night.

horfa almost never takes a bare object; it reaches its target through á + accusative.

❌ Hann horfaði á mig lengi.

Incorrect — horfa is a -ði verb, not -aði; the past is 'horfði' (with ð).

✅ Hann horfði á mig lengi.

He looked at me for a long time.

horfa is weak Class 2 with a -ði preterite — never the -aði of tala-type verbs.

❌ Ég horfði á íbúðina áður en ég keypti hana.

Misleading — to 'view/inspect' a flat you skoða it; horfa á means you merely gazed at it.

✅ Ég skoðaði íbúðina áður en ég keypti hana.

I viewed the flat before I bought it.

For inspecting, viewing or browsing, use skoða (direct accusative). Reserve horfa á for keeping your gaze on something.

Key Takeaways

horfi / horfir / horfði / horft — a regular weak Class-2 verb with a -ði preterite (note the ð) and a stable stem; no u-umlaut.
The core frame is horfa á + accusative (horfa á sjónvarpið, á mig) — "watch / keep one's gaze on." Bare horfa only occurs with directional adverbs (horfa fram).
horfa á (deliberate gaze) ≠ sjá (perceive, direct accusative) ≠ líta á (glance) ≠ skoða (examine/view, direct accusative).
Middle horfast í augu (við) = "look each other in the eye / face up to."
Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef horft.

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