muna ("to remember") is irregular in exactly the way English "remember" is not: its present tense has no ending in the singular. "I remember" is just ég man — not muni, not manar, just man. This puts muna in the small, ancient class of preterite-present verbs (the same family as kunna "know how" and the modals), whose present tense looks like an old past tense. Learn the handful of forms here and you also unlock the pattern behind several other high-frequency verbs. This page also keeps you out of the single biggest trap: muna ("remember") looks dangerously like munu ("shall/will") — they are different verbs, and confusing them changes your meaning entirely.
Conjugation
Class: irregular, preterite-present. Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef munað "I have remembered." The present singular is endingless (man / manst / man); the plural takes the regular -um / -ið / -a (munum / munið / muna). The past is a regular weak -di (mundi).
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að muna |
| 1sg present | man |
| 1sg past | mundi |
| Supine | munað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | man | mundi |
| þú | manst | mundir |
| hann / hún / það | man | mundi |
| við | munum | mundum |
| þið | munið | munduð |
| þeir / þær / þau | muna | mundu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | muni | myndi |
| þú | munir | myndir |
| hann / hún / það | muni | myndi |
| við | munum | myndum |
| þið | munið | mynduð |
| þeir / þær / þau | muni | myndu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | mundu |
| Imperative (þið) | munið! |
| Supine | munað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | munaður / munuð / munað |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | munast (rare) — chiefly in muna's plain form |
The endingless present: man / manst / man
In the singular, muna drops the vowel of the infinitive and adds nothing in the 1st and 3rd person: ég man, hann man. Only the 2nd person takes the -st ending shared by this verb class: þú manst. This is the form you will use most — "I remember," "do you remember?" — so over-learn it.
Ég man þetta vel — það var rigning þann dag.
I remember it well — it was raining that day.
Manstu eftir mér? Við hittumst í fyrra.
Do you remember me? We met last year.
Hann man ekki hvað hún heitir.
He doesn't remember what she's called.
The object: muna eitthvað (accusative)
Plain muna takes a direct object in the accusative — muna nafnið ("remember the name"), muna númerið ("remember the number"). This is the mirror image of gleyma ("forget"), which takes the dative: you remember a thing (accusative) but forget to a thing (dative).
Ég man ekki nafnið hans í augnablikinu.
I can't remember his name at the moment.
Manstu símanúmerið hennar?
Do you remember her phone number?
muna eftir + dative — "recall, think back to"
For recalling a person or event — calling it back to mind rather than simply holding it — Icelandic uses muna eftir + dative. The nuance is "remember about / think back to": muna eftir afmælinu ("remember about the birthday," dative). Note the case flip: bare muna takes accusative, but muna eftir takes dative because the preposition eftir governs it.
Mundu eftir afmælinu hennar mömmu á sunnudaginn.
Remember (about) Mum's birthday on Sunday.
Ég man vel eftir fyrsta deginum í skólanum.
I remember my first day at school well.
The imperative: mundu!
The command "remember!" is mundu — identical in spelling to the 3rd-person plural past (þau mundu "they remembered"), so context disambiguates. You will see it on reminders and signs everywhere: mundu eftir... ("remember to...").
Mundu að taka með þér regnhlíf!
Remember to bring an umbrella!
Do not confuse muna with munu
This is the high-stakes warning. muna = "remember"; munu = "shall / will" (the future auxiliary). Their forms overlap dangerously: munum is both "we remember" (from muna) and "we shall" (from munu), and the past subjunctive myndi/myndu belongs to both verbs' orbits. The decisive clue is meaning and what follows: munu is followed by a bare infinitive (ég mun fara "I will go"), whereas muna takes a noun object or eftir (ég man þetta "I remember this").
Ég man þetta. (muna) — Ég mun gera þetta. (munu)
I remember this. — I will do this.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég muni nafnið þitt.
Incorrect — the present 1sg has no ending: it's ég man, not muni (which is the subjunctive)
✅ Ég man nafnið þitt.
I remember your name.
❌ Manst þú þessu?
Incorrect — bare muna takes the accusative (þetta), not the dative; dative goes with muna EFTIR
✅ Manstu þetta?
Do you remember this?
❌ Ég man fara í búðina á eftir.
Incorrect — 'I will go' uses munu (ég mun fara); muna means 'remember' and needs a noun or eftir
✅ Ég mun fara í búðina á eftir.
I will go to the shop later.
❌ Hann manaði ekki afmælið.
Incorrect — the past is mundi, not a regularised -aði; and 'remember about' uses muna eftir + dative
✅ Hann mundi ekki eftir afmælinu.
He didn't remember the birthday.
Key Takeaways
- man / manst / man (sg) and munum / munið / muna (pl) — an irregular preterite-present verb with an endingless present singular, just like English "remember."
- Past is a regular weak mundi; supine munað; imperative mundu.
- Bare muna takes the accusative (muna nafnið); muna eftir takes the dative (muna eftir afmælinu).
- Opposite of gleyma (forget) in both meaning and case: remember = accusative, forget = dative.
- Do not confuse muna ("remember") with munu ("shall/will") — munu is followed by a bare infinitive.
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef munað.
Now practice Icelandic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- gleyma (to forget)A2 — Full conjugation of the weak verb gleyma (gleymi / gleymdi / gleymdu / gleymt), with its crucial DATIVE object (gleyma einhverju), the construction gleyma að + infinitive, and the contrast with muna (remember), which takes the accusative.