komast is the -st (middle-voice) form of koma ("to come"), but it has drifted far enough in meaning to count as its own verb. It does not mean "to be come"; it means "to manage to get somewhere, to reach, to make it." The -st contributes exactly the nuance English has to add with a separate verb — succeed in, manage to. So ég kemst ekki í kvöld is not "I'm not coming tonight" (that would be plain ég kem ekki); it is "I can't make it tonight." This page gives the full -st paradigm — built on koma's strong stem (kemst / komst / komust / komist) — and covers the everyday senses: reaching a place, the idiom komast að ("find out"), and the experiencer-flavoured uses where ability and motion fuse.
Conjugation
Base verb: koma (strong, Class 4). Voice: middle (miðmynd), lexicalised. Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef komist "I have made it / got there." The -st attaches to koma's own forms, so the stem vowels follow koma: present kem-, past singular kom-, past plural kom- (with -ust).
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að komast |
| 1sg present | kemst |
| 1sg past | komst |
| 3pl past | komust |
| Supine | komist |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | kemst | komst |
| þú | kemst | komst |
| hann / hún / það | kemst | komst |
| við | komumst | komumst |
| þið | komist | komust |
| þeir / þær / þau | komast | komust |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | komist | kæmist |
| þú | komist | kæmist |
| hann / hún / það | komist | kæmist |
| við | komumst | kæmumst |
| þið | komist | kæmust |
| þeir / þær / þau | komist | kæmust |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | komstu (rare; usually paraphrased) |
| Imperative (þið) | komist! |
| Supine | komist |
| Past participle (n) | komist |
| Present participle | komandi (from koma) |
The core meaning: 'manage to get / reach'
The single most important fact: komast means "succeed in getting (there)", not "come." The -st turns plain motion into achieved motion — there was an obstacle, effort, or doubt, and you got past it. This is why komast is the natural verb for "can/can't make it," for "get to" a hard-to-reach place, and for escaping or breaking free.
Því miður kemst ég ekki í afmælið á laugardaginn.
Unfortunately I can't make it to the birthday party on Saturday. (not 'ég kem ekki' — komast = manage to get there)
Við komumst loksins heim eftir tólf tíma á flugvellinum.
We finally made it home after twelve hours at the airport. (past plural 'komumst')
Hvernig kemst ég á Hlemm héðan?
How do I get to Hlemmur from here? (asking the route — 'how do I get to', komast)
komast að — 'find out'
A high-frequency idiom: komast að (+ að-clause) means "to find out, to discover" — you get to the knowledge. The preposition að here is the particle of the idiom, not a case-governing preposition over a noun; the content is usually a clause.
Ég komst að því að hann hafði logið allan tímann.
I found out that he'd been lying the whole time. (komast að því að… = find out that…)
Hvernig komstu að þessu?
How did you find this out? (past 'komst' + particle 'að')
The same komast að can also be locative — "get to / reach (a spot)" — when followed by a place: ég komst að dyrunum ("I made it to the door"). Context disambiguates the idiom from the literal motion.
The motion sense: komast í / á / heim
With directional complements, komast keeps its "manage to reach" flavour. Goals take the accusative in the motion sense of two-case prepositions: komast í bæinn ("get into town"), komast á fund ("make it to a meeting"), and bare directionals like komast heim ("get home"), komast út ("get out"). The implication is always that arrival was not guaranteed.
Það var svo mikill snjór að við komumst varla út úr bílnum.
There was so much snow that we could barely get out of the car. (komast út úr + dative source)
Ef veðrið lagast komumst við kannski á fjallið á morgun.
If the weather improves we might make it up the mountain tomorrow. (komast á + accusative goal)
Ability fused with motion (the experiencer flavour)
Because komast bundles ability into motion, it often replaces a "can + go" construction that English keeps in two words. "I can't get there," "we couldn't get through," "she finally got free" are all single-verb komast in Icelandic. There is no separate modal — the -st is doing the modal work.
Hún komst undan og hringdi á lögregluna.
She got away and called the police. (komast undan = escape, get free)
komast vs koma — the one distinction that matters
Keep the pair sharply apart. koma = "come, arrive" (plain motion); komast = "manage to get there, reach, make it" (motion + success). Ég kem klukkan átta is "I'm coming at eight" (a plan). Ég kemst klukkan átta is "I can be there by eight / I can make it by eight" (an ability). Using koma where success is the point sounds wrong; using komast for a neutral plan over-eggs it.
Ég kem á morgun, en ég veit ekki hvort ég kemst í tæka tíð.
I'm coming tomorrow, but I don't know whether I'll make it in time. (koma = come; komast = manage to make it)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég kem ekki á fundinn í dag (meaning 'I can't make it').
Misleading — 'ég kem ekki' means simply 'I'm not coming'; to say you CAN'T make it, use komast.
✅ Ég kemst ekki á fundinn í dag.
I can't make it to the meeting today.
❌ Við komstum heim seint.
Incorrect — the past PLURAL is 'komumst', not '*komstum'.
✅ Við komumst heim seint.
We got home late.
❌ Þú kemstur ekki inn án miða.
Incorrect — the -st form takes no personal -ur ending; it's just 'kemst' for þú.
✅ Þú kemst ekki inn án miða.
You can't get in without a ticket.
❌ Ég komaðist að sannleikanum.
Incorrect — komast is a strong middle, not a weak '-aðist'; the past is 'komst'.
✅ Ég komst að sannleikanum.
I found out the truth.
Key Takeaways
- kemst / komst / komust / komist — the lexicalised middle of koma, meaning "manage to get somewhere, reach, make it."
- The -st adds "succeed in": komast ≠ koma. Ég kemst ekki = "I can't make it," not "I'm not coming."
- Singular present is invariant kemst (ég/þú/hann); plural restores endings: komumst / komist / komast. Past plural is komumst / komust / komust — never komstum.
- komast að = "find out (that…)"; directional komast í/á/heim/út/undan = "get to / get out / escape," with accusative goals in the motion sense.
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef komist.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- 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.
- koma (to come)A1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb koma (kem / kom / komu / komið), with the vera-perfect (ég er kominn), the middle voice komast ('manage to get'), and the reflexive koma sér.
- 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.
- Quirky (Oblique) Subjects: OverviewA2 — Icelandic's flagship feature: a large class of verbs whose logical subject — the experiencer — stands in the accusative, dative, or genitive instead of the nominative, with the verb frozen in 3rd-person singular. mér finnst, mig langar, mér er kalt: why 'I' is so often mér or mig, not ég.