læra (to learn / study) | Icelandic Grammar

læra ("to learn, to study") is the natural partner of kenna ("to teach") — where one party kennir, the other lærir. It is a weak verb of the -ði preterite type with an æ-stem, which makes it pleasantly regular and, crucially, free of u-umlaut. This page gives the full paradigm, covers læra + accusative, læra að + infinitive, and the idiom læra utan að ("learn by heart"), and draws the all-important line between læra (the process of learning) and kunna (the resulting knowledge).

Conjugation

Class: weak, the -ði preterite type (stem ends in a voiced consonant, so the dental surfaces as -ði → lærði). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef lært "I have learned."

Principal parts
Infinitive	að læra
3sg present	lærir
3sg past	lærði
Supine	lært

Person	Present (nútíð)	Past (þátíð)
ég	læri	lærði
þú	lærir	lærðir
hann / hún / það	lærir	lærði
við	lærum	lærðum
þið	lærið	lærðuð
þeir / þær / þau	læra	lærðu

Person	Present subjunctive	Past subjunctive
ég	læri	lærði
þú	lærir	lærðir
hann / hún / það	læri	lærði
við	lærum	lærðum
þið	lærið	lærðuð
þeir / þær / þau	læri	lærðu

Non-finite & imperative
Imperative (þú)	lærðu!
Imperative (þið)	lærið!
Supine	lært
Past participle (m/f/n)	lærður / lærð / lært
Middle voice (miðmynd)	lærast — "to be learned," þetta lærist með tímanum "you pick this up over time"

💡

Like its cousin hætta, læra has an æ-stem, and æ never u-umlauts. So the "we" forms keep the vowel: við lærum, við lærðum — never "lörum." The only thing that changes through the paradigm is the ending; the læ- stays constant everywhere.

læra + accusative — "learn a subject"

To learn or study a subject or language, læra takes a plain accusative object: læra íslensku "learn Icelandic," læra stærðfræði "study maths." There is no preposition — English speakers sometimes insert "about," but læra um would mean something narrower ("read up about"), so for ordinary "study X" keep it bare.

Ég er að læra íslensku í kvöldskóla.

I'm learning Icelandic at evening school.

Hvað ætlarðu að læra í háskólanum?

What are you going to study at university?

Hún lærði lögfræði í Kaupmannahöfn.

She studied law in Copenhagen.

læra að + infinitive — "learn to do something"

To learn how to do something, use læra að + infinitive: læra að synda "learn to swim," læra að keyra "learn to drive." This is the everyday way to talk about acquiring a skill.

Barnið er að læra að ganga.

The child is learning to walk.

Ég lærði aldrei að hjóla sem krakki.

I never learned to ride a bike as a kid.

læra utan að — "learn by heart"

A fixed idiom worth memorising: læra (eitthvað) utan að means "to memorise, learn by heart." utan að is an adverbial unit and does not change.

Við þurftum að læra ljóðið utan að.

We had to learn the poem by heart.

læra vs kunna vs nema — process, result, register

This is where real fluency lives. læra is the process of acquiring knowledge; kunna is the resulting state of knowing it. You lærir a language for years and then you kunnt it. They are not interchangeable: ég læri íslensku means "I'm in the process of learning," while ég kann íslensku means "I (already) know Icelandic." Separately, nema is a more formal, bookish word for "to study" (used in námskeið "course," nemandi "student") — you will read it but rarely need to say it in conversation, where læra dominates.

Ég er búin að læra íslensku í tvö ár en kann hana samt ekki vel.

I've been learning Icelandic for two years but still don't know it well.

Þegar þú hefur lært þetta einu sinni gleymirðu því aldrei.

Once you've learned this, you never forget it.

There is a second pairing English merges that Icelandic also splits: læra covers both "learn" and "study" (the activity), but the English noun "to study" as in to do one's homework / revise is usually rendered with læra too — ég er að læra on its own commonly means "I'm studying / doing homework," with no object at all. So læra is genuinely three English words (learn, study, revise) folded into one Icelandic verb, and only kunna sits clearly outside it on the "already-know" side.

💡

Quick test: if you can replace the English with "is in the process of acquiring," use læra; if you can replace it with "already has the ability," use kunna. Reserve nema for formal or academic contexts — saying ég nem íslensku in casual speech sounds stilted.

Common Mistakes

❌ Ég læraði íslensku í fyrra.

Incorrect — læra's past is lærði (-ði type), not the regular -aði

✅ Ég lærði íslensku í fyrra.

I studied Icelandic last year.

❌ Ég læri íslensku mjög vel.

Incorrect if you mean you're good at it — that's resulting knowledge, so use kunna

✅ Ég kann íslensku mjög vel.

I know Icelandic very well.

❌ Við lörum saman á kvöldin.

Incorrect — the æ-stem never u-umlauts; the 'we' form is lærum

✅ Við lærum saman á kvöldin.

We study together in the evenings.

❌ Hún er að læra um íslensku.

Incorrect for 'studying Icelandic' — læra takes a bare accusative; um narrows it to 'reading about' the language

✅ Hún er að læra íslensku.

She's learning Icelandic.

Key Takeaways

læra / lærir / lærði / lært — weak -ði preterite; perfect takes hafa (ég hef lært).
The æ-stem never u-umlauts: lærum, lærðum — never "lörum."
læra
- accusative for a subject; læra að
  - infinitive for a skill; læra utan að = "memorise."
The distinction competitors omit: læra is the process, kunna is the result — ég læri vs ég kann.
nema is the formal/academic synonym for "study"; stick with læra in conversation.

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