óska ("to wish") is a regular weak Class-1 verb with a thoroughly irregular case frame — and that frame is the whole reason this card exists. When you wish someone something, the recipient goes in the dative and the thing wished goes in the genitive: óska þér góðs gengis "(I) wish you good luck." This dative-plus-genitive pattern is the single most useful — and most omitted — fact about óska, and it powers the everyday congratulation óska þér til hamingju. The conjugation itself is easy: an ó-stem, so like nota and vona it takes no u-umlaut (óskum, never öskum).
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 1 (the -aði preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef óskað "I have wished."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að óska |
| 3sg present | óskar |
| 3sg past | óskaði |
| Supine | óskað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | óska | óskaði |
| þú | óskar | óskaðir |
| hann / hún / það | óskar | óskaði |
| við | óskum | óskuðum |
| þið | óskið | óskuðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | óska | óskuðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | óski | óskaði |
| þú | óskir | óskaðir |
| hann / hún / það | óski | óskaði |
| við | óskum | óskuðum |
| þið | óskið | óskuðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | óski | óskuðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | óskaðu |
| Imperative (þið) | óskið! |
| Supine | óskað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | óskaður / óskuð / óskað |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | óskast — "to be requested/wanted" (e.g. in ads: óskast til kaups) |
The signature frame: óska + dative person + genitive thing
This is the heart of the verb. To wish someone something, put the person in the dative and the thing in the genitive:
óska + einhverjum (dat.) + einhvers (gen.)
So óska þér góðs gengis is literally "wish to-you of-good luck." Two different cases on the two objects is unusual from an English point of view — English just lines both up after the verb ("wish you good luck"), with no marking at all. In Icelandic you must feel the recipient as a dative and the wished-for thing as a genitive. This is the same logic as biðja einhvern einhvers and other "ask/wish from someone" verbs: the genitive marks the thing requested or desired.
The reason to memorise this frame as a unit rather than reasoning it out each time is that the genitive surfaces in unexpected places — adjectives and nouns alike take genitive endings you would not predict from the dictionary form. góð ferð "a good trip" becomes góðrar ferðar; allt hið besta "all the best" becomes alls hins besta. Learners who try to wish someone something by stitching the words together in the nominative end up with a sentence that sounds, to an Icelandic ear, like a foreigner reciting a phrasebook. The set phrases below carry the correct case for you, which is exactly why fluent speakers lean on them.
Ég óska þér góðs gengis í prófinu.
I wish you good luck on the exam.
Við óskum ykkur alls hins besta.
We wish you all the very best.
Hún óskaði mér gleðilegra jóla.
She wished me a merry Christmas.
óska e-m til hamingju — "congratulate"
The fixed congratulation is óska einhverjum til hamingju (með eitthvað) — "wish someone toward happiness (on something)," i.e. "congratulate." Note the structure: the person stays dative (óska þér), and the occasion follows með + dative. This phrase is in constant use at birthdays, weddings, graduations, and new jobs.
Til hamingju með afmælið! Ég óska þér alls góðs.
Happy birthday! I wish you all the best.
Allir óskuðu þeim til hamingju með brúðkaupið.
Everyone congratulated them on the wedding.
óska eftir + dative — "request / ask for"
In a more formal register, óska eftir + dative means "request, ask for" — what you see in job ads, official notices, and announcements. Here the case is dative, governed by eftir, and the meaning shifts from a warm "wish" to a neutral "request."
Fyrirtækið óskar eftir starfsmanni í fullt starf.
The company is seeking a full-time employee.
Lögreglan óskar eftir upplýsingum frá almenningi.
The police are requesting information from the public.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég óska þér góða ferð.
Incorrect — the thing wished must be genitive, not accusative: góðrar ferðar
✅ Ég óska þér góðrar ferðar.
I wish you a good trip.
❌ Ég óska þig til hamingju.
Incorrect — the person is dative, not accusative: óska þér til hamingju
✅ Ég óska þér til hamingju.
Congratulations (I congratulate you).
❌ Við öskum þér alls góðs.
Incorrect — óska has an ó-stem, so no u-umlaut; the 'we' form is óskum, never öskum
✅ Við óskum þér alls góðs.
We wish you all the best.
❌ Fyrirtækið óskar eftir starfsmann.
Incorrect — óska eftir governs the dative, not the accusative: eftir starfsmanni
✅ Fyrirtækið óskar eftir starfsmanni.
The company is seeking an employee.
Key Takeaways
- óska / óskar / óskaði / óskað — a regular weak Class-1 verb; past in -aði.
- No u-umlaut: the ó-stem stays ó throughout — óskum, óskuðum, never öskum.
- Signature frame: óska
- dative person
- genitive thing — óska þér góðs gengis.
- dative person
- óska e-m til hamingju (með e-u) = "congratulate" — person stays dative.
- óska eftir
- dative (formal) = "request, ask for" — common in ads and notices.
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef óskað.
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- Verbs and the Case of Their ObjectsB1 — Icelandic verbs assign a fixed case to their object that you cannot predict from meaning: most take the accusative (sjá hann), a sizable cluster take the dative (hjálpa honum), a few take the genitive (sakna hennar), and ditransitives take dative-then-accusative (gefa honum bók) — why object case is lexical, and the high-frequency dative-governing verbs to memorise.
- Social Formulae and Set PhrasesA2 — The frozen social phrases of daily Icelandic — takk fyrir mig, gangi þér vel, verði þér að góðu, til hamingju með — and the hidden grammar inside them: most are frozen subjunctive optatives, so you start 'using the subjunctive' long before you study it.
- Subjunctive in Wishes, Hopes, and CommandsB2 — The optative subjunctive: wishes (ég vildi að þú værir hér 'I wish you were here'), hopes (ég vona að þú komir), blessings, curses and fixed formulae (guð blessi þig, lengi lifi…, verði þér að góðu), and third-person imperatives (komi sá sem vill). Verbs of wishing/hoping/fearing take a subjunctive complement; fixed optative formulae survive as frozen present subjunctives; and the PAST subjunctive marks the unattainable wish.