lesa upp ("to read aloud, recite") is the verb lesa ("read") plus the particle upp — and it is a perfect first lesson in how Icelandic particle verbs behave, because the particle is separable: it does not glue to the verb the way "upstand" never separates in English. The conjugation is entirely that of strong Class-5 lesa (les – las – lásu – lesið); upp simply rides along, landing after the finite verb and shifting around the object. This page conjugates the base verb, shows where upp goes, and rounds up the family of lesa + particle idioms you will actually meet: lesa yfir ("proofread") and lesa undir próf ("study for an exam").
Conjugation
The conjugation is strong, Class 5 — identical to plain lesa. The particle upp is not conjugated and never changes shape. Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef lesið upp. Governs: the accusative (lesa upp ljóð "recite a poem").
| Principal parts (base verb lesa + upp) | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að lesa upp |
| Present 1sg | les upp |
| Preterite 1sg | las upp |
| Preterite 3pl | lásu upp |
| Supine | lesið upp |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | les upp | las upp |
| þú | lest upp | last upp |
| hann / hún / það | les upp | las upp |
| við | lesum upp | lásum upp |
| þið | lesið upp | lásuð upp |
| þeir / þær / þau | lesa upp | lásu upp |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | lesi upp | læsi upp |
| þú | lesir upp | læsir upp |
| hann / hún / það | lesi upp | læsi upp |
| við | lesum upp | læsum upp |
| þið | lesið upp | læsuð upp |
| þeir / þær / þau | lesi upp | læsu upp |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | lestu upp |
| Imperative (þið) | lesið upp! |
| Supine | lesið upp |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | upplesinn / upplesin / upplesið |
The separable particle: where upp goes
In an ordinary main clause, the finite verb comes first and upp follows it. A pronoun object slips in between the verb and the particle, while a full noun phrase usually sits after the particle — though Icelandic word order is flexible enough that you will hear both. The key insight for English speakers is that upp is a free word, not a prefix: it can be pulled away from lesa by the object, by negation, or by the subject in a question.
Hún las upp nýjasta ljóðið sitt á kvöldvökunni.
She recited her newest poem at the evening gathering.
Lestu þetta upp fyrir okkur?
Will you read this aloud for us? (pronoun þetta sits between the verb and upp)
Kennarinn las nöfnin upp í stafrófsröð.
The teacher read the names out in alphabetical order.
Notice the middle example: the object pronoun þetta lands before upp (lestu þetta upp), exactly as English allows "read it out." With a heavier noun phrase the particle tends to come first (las upp nöfnin) or trail at the end (las nöfnin upp) — both are natural.
lesa upp = "recite / read aloud (publicly)"
lesa upp carries a flavour of performing the reading — reciting poetry, reading a list out to a room, an author reading from their book at a launch. For simply reading text out to one person you can also just say lesa (lestu þetta fyrir mig "read this to me"), but lesa upp foregrounds the out-loud, audience-facing act. The agent noun upplesari ("a reciter / reader") and the event noun upplestur ("a public reading, recitation") come from exactly this verb.
Rithöfundurinn las upp úr nýju bókinni á útgáfuhófinu.
The author read aloud from the new book at the launch party.
Það er upplestur í bókasafninu á fimmtudaginn.
There's a public reading at the library on Thursday. (the noun upplestur)
Two siblings: lesa yfir and lesa undir próf
lesa is a particle-verb factory, and two of its other combinations are everyday vocabulary worth learning alongside lesa upp:
- lesa yfir (+ accusative) — "proofread, look over, check." Literally "read over." Geturðu lesið yfir ritgerðina mína? "Can you proofread my essay?"
- lesa undir próf — "study / revise for an exam." Literally "read under an exam." Here lesa on its own already means "study" in Icelandic (as in lesa lögfræði "study law"), and undir próf specifies what you are cramming for. There is no object in the accusative — undir próf is a fixed prepositional phrase.
Geturðu lesið yfir ritgerðina mína áður en ég skila henni?
Can you proofread my essay before I hand it in?
Ég er búinn að lesa undir próf alla helgina.
I've been studying for the exam all weekend.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún upplas ljóðið.
Incorrect as a finite verb — in a main clause the particle separates: hún las upp ljóðið. (upplesa is the fused form found only as the participle upplesinn / the noun upplestur.)
✅ Hún las upp ljóðið.
She recited the poem.
❌ Við lasum upp nöfnin.
Incorrect — the base verb is strong; the past plural is the long, accented lásum, not lasum.
✅ Við lásum upp nöfnin.
We read the names out.
❌ Geturðu lesið upp ritgerðina mína fyrir villur?
Wrong particle — 'proofread' is lesa yfir, not lesa upp (which means recite aloud).
✅ Geturðu lesið yfir ritgerðina mína?
Can you proofread my essay?
❌ Ég las upp fyrir prófið alla helgina.
Wrong idiom — 'study for an exam' is lesa undir próf, not lesa upp fyrir.
✅ Ég las undir próf alla helgina.
I studied for the exam all weekend.
Key Takeaways
- lesa upp – las upp – lásu upp – lesið upp — conjugated exactly like strong Class-5 lesa; the particle upp never inflects.
- The particle is separable: a pronoun object goes between the verb and upp (lestu þetta upp); the fused upplesa survives only in the participle upplesinn and the noun upplestur.
- lesa upp = "recite, read aloud (publicly)"; takes the accusative.
- Siblings: lesa yfir = "proofread, look over"; lesa undir próf = "study for an exam."
- Past singular short las, past plural long lásu(m) — the one thing to get right comes from the base verb.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- lesa (to read)A2 — Full conjugation of the strong Class-5 verb lesa (les / las / lásu / lesið), with the e–a–á–e vowel pattern, the long-vowel past plural lásum, the supine lesið for the perfect, and the idiom lesa um (acc) 'read about'.
- 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.