koma ("to come") is the natural partner to fara, and like fara it is a strong verb whose vowel jumps from form to form. It is everywhere in everyday Icelandic — in greetings (komdu sæll!), in arrivals (hann er kominn "he's here"), and in one of the most useful spoken verbs in the language, the middle-voice komast "to manage to get somewhere." Learn koma and komast together; they pay for themselves daily.
Conjugation
Class: strong, class 4 (ablaut o–a–o stem, present kem). Auxiliary: vera (motion verb): ég er kominn "I have come / I'm here."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að koma |
| 3sg present | kemur |
| 3sg past | kom |
| Supine | komið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | kem | kom |
| þú | kemur | komst |
| hann / hún / það | kemur | kom |
| við | komum | komum |
| þið | komið | komuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | koma | komu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | komi | kæmi |
| þú | komir | kæmir |
| hann / hún / það | komi | kæmi |
| við | komum | kæmum |
| þið | komið | kæmuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | komi | kæmu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | kom! / komdu (with attached pronoun) |
| Imperative (þið) | komið! |
| Supine | komið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | kominn / komin / komið |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | komast (3sg kemst, past komst) |
The vowels of koma
The four principal parts are kem (present), kom (past singular), komu (past plural / past stem), komið (supine). The present singular fronts the o to e — kem, kemur — while everything else keeps o. In the past subjunctive the vowel turns to æ (kæmi), an i-umlaut you will see again in fara → færi and taka → tæki. If you can say ég kem, ég kom, ég er kominn, you already control 90% of real usage.
Ég kem klukkan sjö, er það í lagi?
I'll come at seven, is that okay?
Hún kom of seint í tímann í morgun.
She came late to class this morning.
Hvaðan kemur þú?
Where do you come from?
The vera-perfect: ég er kominn
Like fara, koma describes arrival — a change of place — so its perfect uses vera, and the participle agrees with the subject: ég er kominn (a man), ég er komin (a woman), þau eru komin (mixed group). Icelanders use this constantly to mean simply "I'm here / I've arrived."
Ertu komin? Ég bíð fyrir utan.
Are you here? I'm waiting outside. (to a woman)
Gestirnir eru komnir, við getum byrjað.
The guests have arrived, we can start.
komast — to manage to get there
The middle voice komast is not a passive of koma; it means "to get (oneself) somewhere, to manage to reach." Where koma is neutral arrival, komast foregrounds the effort or possibility of getting there.
Við komumst ekki heim í gærkvöldi út af snjónum.
We couldn't get home last night because of the snow.
Hvernig kemst ég á flugvöllinn?
How do I get to the airport?
koma sér — get yourself somewhere / settle in
The reflexive koma sér (with the reflexive pronoun sér, dative) means "get oneself" somewhere or into some state — koma sér heim "get oneself home," koma sér fyrir "settle in, get set up."
Reyndu að koma þér heim fyrir miðnætti.
Try to get yourself home before midnight.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég koma á morgun.
Incorrect — koma is the infinitive/plural; the 1sg present fronts to kem
✅ Ég kem á morgun.
I'm coming tomorrow.
❌ Ég hef komið.
Incorrect — as a motion verb, koma takes vera + an agreeing participle
✅ Ég er kominn.
I've arrived / I'm here. (said by a man)
❌ Komdu þú hingað!
Incorrect — the pronoun is already attached in komdu; don't repeat it
✅ Komdu hingað!
Come here!
❌ Hvernig kem ég á flugvöllinn?
Understandable, but Icelanders use komast for 'manage to get to'
✅ Hvernig kemst ég á flugvöllinn?
How do I get to the airport?
Key Takeaways
- koma / kem / kom / komið — strong class 4; present singular fronts to kem.
- Perfect of arrival uses vera with an agreeing participle: ég er kominn / komin.
- The greeting komdu sæll / komdu sæl ("welcome / hello") already contains the imperative komdu.
- komast = "manage to get somewhere"; koma sér = "get oneself somewhere."
- Don't confuse past þú komst ("you came") with middle-voice komst ("managed to get").
Now practice Icelandic
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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.
- The Perfect: hafa/vera + SupineB1 — Icelandic builds the perfect with an auxiliary plus the supine: hafa for most verbs (ég hef borðað 'I have eaten') but vera for many intransitive motion and change-of-state verbs (ég er kominn 'I have come', hún er farin 'she has gone') — and in the vera-perfect the participle AGREES in gender and number with the subject. The pluperfect uses hafði/var + supine.
- komast (to manage to get somewhere)B1 — Full conjugation of komast (kemst / komst / komust / komist), the lexicalised middle of koma meaning 'manage to get / reach', with the -st paradigm, the idiom komast að 'find out', the motion sense komast heim / komast í, and the crucial point that the -st adds 'succeed in' — komast ≠ plain koma.