leggjast ("to lie down") is the middle-voice (miðmynd) form of leggja ("to lay, to put down"), and it is the exact posture-companion of setjast "sit down." The -st turns the transitive "lay something down" into "lay oneself down" — that is, to lie down. As with setjast, the crucial nuance is that leggjast is dynamic: it describes the change from upright (or seated) to lying, the act of lowering yourself onto a surface. That is what separates it from liggja ("to lie, to be lying"), which is static — the state of already being horizontal. You leggjast into bed, and then you liggur in it. This page gives the full -st paradigm and drills that change-of-state contrast, parallel to the setjast / sitja pair.
Conjugation
Base verb: leggja (weak j-verb, -ði preterite with vowel change to lagði). Voice: middle (miðmynd). Auxiliary: vera — ég er lagstur/lögst "I have lain down" (middle verbs of motion/change of posture take vera in the perfect; the participle agrees: lagstur m., lögst f./n.). The -st attaches to leggja's stem, so the present singular collapses to legst for all three persons.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að leggjast |
| 1sg present | legst |
| 1sg past | lagðist |
| 1pl past | lögðumst |
| Supine | lagst |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | legst | lagðist |
| þú | legst | lagðist |
| hann / hún / það | legst | lagðist |
| við | leggjumst | lögðumst |
| þið | leggist | lögðust |
| þeir / þær / þau | leggjast | lögðust |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | leggist | legðist |
| þú | leggist | legðist |
| hann / hún / það | leggist | legðist |
| við | leggjumst | legðumst |
| þið | leggist | legðust |
| þeir / þær / þau | leggist | legðust |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | leggstu |
| Imperative (þið) | leggist! |
| Supine | lagst |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | lagstur / lögst / lagst |
The core meaning: a change of posture
leggjast means to move yourself into a lying position — the transition, not the resulting state. There is always an implied "from standing or sitting to lying down." This is why it pairs naturally with directional particles (niður "down") and with goal phrases (leggjast í rúmið "lie down into the bed," leggjast á sófann "lie down on the sofa"). It is also the verb for "taking to one's bed" when ill: leggjast veikur, leggjast í flensu.
Ég ætla að leggjast aðeins út af, ég er alveg búinn á því.
I'm going to lie down for a bit, I'm completely worn out. (leggjast = lie down)
Barnið lagðist niður á gólfið og neitaði að standa upp.
The child lay down on the floor and refused to get up. (past singular 'lagðist')
Við lögðumst í grasið og horfðum á skýin.
We lay down in the grass and watched the clouds. (past plural 'lögðumst' — u-umlaut)
leggjast niður and leggjast á + accusative
Adding niður ("down") makes the downward direction explicit, much like English "lie down." The surface you lie onto is a goal, so two-case prepositions take the accusative: leggjast á sófann ("lie down on the sofa," accusative sófann, motion onto it), leggjast í rúmið ("lie down into the bed"). Once you are there, liggja takes the dative location (liggja á sófanum "be lying on the sofa").
Leggstu niður og hvíldu þig, þú ert með hita.
Lie down and rest, you've got a fever. (imperative 'leggstu' + niður)
Hann lagðist á bekkinn og sofnaði samstundis.
He lay down on the bench and fell asleep at once. (leggjast á + accusative 'bekkinn')
leggjast vs liggja — the change of state is the whole point
This is the distinction that defines the verb, and it exactly mirrors setjast / sitja. Icelandic keeps the dynamic and the static apart with two different verbs, where English overloads "lie" (and muddles it further with "lay"):
- leggjast (middle, -st) = become lying — the action of lying down. Dynamic, telic, takes a goal in the accusative.
- liggja (plain strong verb) = be lying — the state of being horizontal. Static, takes a location in the dative.
So you leggst í rúmið (accusative — motion into the bed), and once you are there you liggur í rúminu (dative — located in the bed). The -st is precisely what marks the change of state. English "I lay down and lay there for an hour" needs two different Icelandic verbs — leggjast for the first, liggja for the second.
Ég lagðist upp í sófa og lá þar allt kvöldið.
I lay down on the sofa and lay there all evening. (lagðist = lay down, dynamic; lá = was lying, static)
Hún var orðin svo þreytt að hún lagðist út af og lá grafkyrr.
She'd got so tired that she lay down and lay completely still. (leggjast for the change, liggja for the state)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég ligg niður smástund.
Incorrect — liggja is static ('be lying'); to express lying DOWN (the change), use leggjast: ég legst niður.
✅ Ég legst niður smástund.
I'll lie down for a moment.
❌ Við lagðumst í grasið.
Incorrect — the past PLURAL has u-umlaut: 'lögðumst', not *lagðumst.
✅ Við lögðumst í grasið.
We lay down in the grass.
❌ Hann lagðist á bekknum.
Incorrect — leggjast is motion onto the bench, so the goal is accusative: á bekkinn, not the locative dative bekknum.
✅ Hann lagðist á bekkinn.
He lay down on the bench. — accusative goal.
❌ Hún lagði sig niður á gólfið.
Incorrect — you don't lay yourself down with leggja + sig in this sense; the middle leggjast already means 'lay oneself down'.
✅ Hún lagðist niður á gólfið.
She lay down on the floor.
Key Takeaways
- legst / lagðist / lögðumst / lagst — the middle voice of leggja, meaning "lie down" (move into a lying position).
- The -st marks the change of state: leggjast is dynamic (become lying), liggja is static (be lying) — exactly parallel to setjast / sitja.
- Present singular is invariant legst (ég/þú/hann); past plural takes u-umlaut: lögðumst / lögðust, never lagðumst.
- Goals are accusative (motion): leggjast á bekkinn, leggjast í rúmið; imperative is leggstu. The perfect uses vera: ég er lagstur/lögst.
- Don't use liggja for "lie down," and keep the bases apart: leggja "lay (something)" vs liggja "lie (be horizontal)."
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- leggja (to lay / put down)A2 — Full conjugation of the weak j-verb leggja (legg / lagði / lögðu / lagt), a transitive 'lay/put', contrasted with its intransitive partner liggja ('lie'), with the u-umlaut lögðum and rich idioms — leggja af stað, leggja sig, leggja áherslu á, leggja saman.
- liggja (to lie / be situated)A2 — Full conjugation of the strong j-verb liggja (ligg / lá / lágu / legið), an intransitive posture verb ('lie, recline, be situated'), contrasted with the transitive partner leggja ('lay') and the middle leggjast ('lie down'), plus the quirky það liggur á.
- 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.
- 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.