klæðast ("to dress oneself; to wear, be clad in") is the middle-voice (miðmynd) form of klæða ("to clothe, dress someone"), and it carries one feature that catches almost every learner: the garment goes in the dative. You are not clad in a sweater so much as clad by means of one — klæðast peysu — and that dative is obligatory. The -st turns the transitive "dress someone" into "dress oneself / be clad," so klæðast needs no separate reflexive pronoun: it already contains the "oneself." This page gives the full -st paradigm and drills the dative garment that defines the verb, alongside the contrast with active klæða sig. Register note: klæðast is somewhat formal/elevated — for everyday "get dressed" Icelanders often say fara í (föt) ("get into clothes"); klæðast is the verb of descriptions, dress codes and reportage.
Conjugation
Base verb: klæða (weak, -ddi preterite). Voice: middle (miðmynd). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef klæðst "I have dressed / worn." Object case: dative for the garment (klæðast einhverju "be clad in something"). The -st attaches to klæða's stem, so the present singular collapses to klæðist for all three persons.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að klæðast |
| 1sg present | klæðist |
| 1sg past | klæddist |
| 3pl past | klæddust |
| Supine | klæðst |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | klæðist | klæddist |
| þú | klæðist | klæddist |
| hann / hún / það | klæðist | klæddist |
| við | klæðumst | klæddumst |
| þið | klæðist | klæddust |
| þeir / þær / þau | klæðast | klæddust |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | klæðist | klæddist |
| þú | klæðist | klæddist |
| hann / hún / það | klæðist | klæddist |
| við | klæðumst | klæddumst |
| þið | klæðist | klæddust |
| þeir / þær / þau | klæðist | klæddust |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | klæðstu! (formal/rare; usually paraphrased) |
| Imperative (þið) | klæðist! |
| Supine | klæðst |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | klæddur / klædd / klætt (from active klæða) |
The dative garment: klæðast peysu, not klæðast peysu(acc.)
This is the feature that defines the verb and the one to internalise first. klæðast governs the dative of whatever you are wearing or putting on:
- klæðast peysu — "wear / put on a sweater" (peysu = dative of peysa)
- klæðast kjól — "wear a dress" (kjól = dative of kjóll)
- klæðast einkennisbúningi — "wear a uniform"
- klæðast svörtu — "be dressed in black" (dative of the substantivised adjective)
Why dative and not accusative? Think of it as instrumental: you clothe yourself by means of the garment, the same dative logic that runs through Icelandic "covering/equipping" verbs. English "wear a coat" has a plain object, so the accusative is the trap your instinct sets — *klæðast kápu with an accusative kápu would be wrong; it is the dative kápu (here the dative and accusative of kápa happen to look alike, which is exactly why the underlying case matters when the forms diverge, as with kjól vs accusative kjól… and clearly with peysu vs the dative peysu). The safe rule: always reach for the dative after klæðast.
Hún klæðist alltaf svörtu á tónleikum.
She always wears black at concerts. 'klæðast' + dative 'svörtu' (be dressed in black).
Gestir eru beðnir að klæðast hlýjum fötum.
Guests are asked to wear warm clothes. 'klæðast' + dative 'hlýjum fötum'.
Presturinn klæddist hvítum hökli við athöfnina.
The priest was clad in a white chasuble for the ceremony. Past 'klæddist' + dative 'hvítum hökli'.
The -st absorbs the reflexive: no sig needed
Because the -st already encodes "oneself," klæðast needs no reflexive pronoun. "I get dressed" is simply ég klæðist — never \ég klæðist mig or *ég klæði mig sjálfan on top of the middle. The middle voice is the reflexive here. This is the same logic you meet in *setjast ("sit oneself down"), leggjast ("lay oneself down") and klæðast — the -st is doing the reflexive work that English leaves implicit in "get dressed."
Ég klæðist í snatri og hljóp út í veður og vind.
I threw my clothes on in a hurry and ran out into the wind and weather. 'klæðist' — the -st already means 'dress oneself', no pronoun needed.
Krakkarnir klæddust sjálfir í morgun, í fyrsta sinn.
The kids dressed themselves this morning, for the first time. Past plural 'klæddust'; 'sjálfir' adds emphasis, not the reflexive itself.
klæðast vs klæða (sig) — the active alternative
The active verb klæða means "to clothe / dress someone else" and takes an accusative object: klæða barnið ("dress the child"). To say "dress oneself" with the active verb you must add the reflexive sig: klæða sig ("get dressed"). So there are two routes to "get dressed":
- klæðast (middle) — the -st carries the reflexive; garment in the dative: klæðast peysu.
- klæða sig (active + sig) — explicit reflexive pronoun; "get dressed" in the bare sense, often with í
- accusative for the garment: klæða sig í peysu ("put a sweater on").
In practice klæða sig (í) is the everyday colloquial choice; klæðast + dative is more formal and is the verb you meet in descriptions ("she was wearing…"). Don't combine the two: *klæðast sig is wrong, because the middle already contains the reflexive.
Manstu að klæða barnið vel, það er nístingskuldi úti.
Remember to dress the child warmly, it's bitterly cold out. Active 'klæða' + accusative object 'barnið' (dress someone else).
Ég þarf bara að klæða mig, svo erum við klár að fara.
I just need to get dressed, then we're ready to go. Active 'klæða' + reflexive 'mig' — the colloquial everyday route.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún klæðist fallegan kjól.
Incorrect — 'klæðast' takes the DATIVE, not the accusative: it's 'fallegum kjól', not 'fallegan kjól'.
✅ Hún klæðist fallegum kjól.
She's wearing a beautiful dress. Dative 'fallegum kjól'.
❌ Ég klæðist mig á morgnana.
Incorrect — the -st already means 'dress oneself', so no reflexive pronoun: just 'ég klæðist'. (Or switch to active 'klæða mig'.)
✅ Ég klæðist í flýti á morgnana.
I get dressed in a hurry in the mornings. The middle 'klæðist' carries the reflexive by itself.
❌ Þau klæðistu öll eins á hátíðinni.
Incorrect — the past PLURAL is 'klæddust', not the singular '*klæðist' with a tacked-on ending.
✅ Þau klæddust öll eins á hátíðinni.
They all dressed alike at the festival. Past plural 'klæddust'.
❌ Ég hef klæðast einkennisbúningi í tíu ár.
Incorrect — after 'hef' you need the SUPINE 'klæðst', not the infinitive 'klæðast'.
✅ Ég hef klæðst einkennisbúningi í tíu ár.
I've worn a uniform for ten years. Supine 'klæðst' + dative 'einkennisbúningi'.
❌ Hann klæðaðist svörtum jakka.
Incorrect — 'klæðast' is not a weak '-aðist' verb; the preterite is 'klæddist' (from klæða, klæddi).
✅ Hann klæddist svörtum jakka.
He was wearing a black jacket. Past 'klæddist' + dative 'svörtum jakka'.
Key Takeaways
- klæðist / klæddist / klæddust / klæðst — the middle voice of klæða, meaning "dress oneself / be clad in."
- The garment is dative: klæðast peysu, klæðast kjól, klæðast svörtu — never the accusative.
- The -st carries the reflexive: ég klæðist, never *klæðist mig. The active alternative is klæða sig (í + accusative).
- Present singular is invariant klæðist (ég/þú/hann); plural restores endings: klæðumst / klæðist / klæðast. Past plural is klæddumst / klæddust / klæddust.
- Register: klæðast is formal/descriptive; for everyday "get dressed" Icelanders often prefer fara í (föt) or klæða sig í. Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef klæðst.
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- The Middle Voice (-st): OverviewB1 — An orientation to the Icelandic middle voice — the verb form built by suffixing -st — covering its four meaning-types (reflexive, reciprocal, anticausative/passive-like, and lexicalised) and the crucial fact that the meaning of an -st verb is not predictable from its base, so many are their own dictionary entries.
- Conjugating Middle-Voice VerbsB1 — How to build the forms of -st (middle-voice) verbs across the whole paradigm: the present in which 2sg and 3sg merge because -st swallows the personal -r, the often-bare 1sg, the preterite that stacks a dental + -st (settist, klæddist, komst), and the supine in -st — drilled on the weak verb setjast and the strong verb komast.
- Clothing and WearingA2 — Clothing vocabulary plus the verbs of dressing — and the key insight that wearing vs putting on is a two-case drill: vera í + dative (wearing), fara í + accusative (putting on), fara úr + dative (taking off), with pluralia tantum garments like buxur and skór.
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- setjast (to sit down)B1 — Full conjugation of setjast (sest / settist / settumst / sest), the middle voice of setja, meaning 'sit oneself down' — a dynamic change of posture, in contrast with the static sitja 'be sitting'. Covers the -st preterite settist/settumst, directional setjast niður, and the setjast/sitja change-of-state distinction.