óttast ("to fear, to be afraid of") is a verb that breaks the pattern English speakers expect from the -st ending. Most -st verbs are reflexive or passive in flavour — setjast ("seat oneself"), gleymast ("be forgotten") — so you would reasonably expect an -st verb to point its action back at the subject and never take a plain object. óttast does the opposite: it wears the -st in every single form, yet it governs a perfectly ordinary accusative object. Ég óttast ekkert means "I fear nothing" — ekkert is accusative, the direct object of a verb that only ever appears in the middle voice. A verb like this — -st on the outside, transitive on the inside — is called a deponent (in Icelandic grammar, an einsmynd, a verb that has only the middle form). This page gives the full deponent paradigm and contrasts óttast with the everyday adjective phrase vera hræddur við.
Conjugation
Class: weak, deponent middle (miðmynd). It has no active counterpart — there is no \ótta meaning "to fear." *Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef óttast "I have feared." The stem ótt- is stable; the -st sits at the very end, after the personal endings, which is why the present plural keeps its endings (óttumst, óttist, óttast) while the singular collapses to a single invariant óttast.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að óttast |
| 1sg present | óttast |
| 1sg past | óttaðist |
| 3pl past | óttuðust |
| Supine | óttast |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | óttast | óttaðist |
| þú | óttast | óttaðist |
| hann / hún / það | óttast | óttaðist |
| við | óttumst | óttuðumst |
| þið | óttist | óttuðust |
| þeir / þær / þau | óttast | óttuðust |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | óttist | óttaðist |
| þú | óttist | óttaðist |
| hann / hún / það | óttist | óttaðist |
| við | óttumst | óttuðumst |
| þið | óttist | óttuðust |
| þeir / þær / þau | óttist | óttuðust |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | óttastu (chiefly in the negated ekki óttast "don't be afraid") |
| Imperative (þið) | óttist! |
| Supine | óttast |
| Present participle | óttandi (rare; the adjective óttasleginn "terror-stricken" is more common) |
The headline fact: a deponent that takes the accusative
The whole point of this card is one sentence: óttast looks middle but behaves transitive, and its object is accusative. You fear a thing (accusative), exactly as in English you fear a thing — the case is the one place where Icelandic here is reassuringly like English. So the dark, which is myrkrið in the nominative, stays myrkrið (neuter accusative is identical to the nominative here), and the dog, hundurinn in the nominative, becomes hundinn in the accusative after óttast.
Ég óttast ekki dauðann, bara það að hætta að vera til.
I don't fear death, only the prospect of ceasing to exist. (dauðann = accusative of dauði)
Hún óttaðist alltaf stóru hundana í hverfinu.
She was always afraid of the big dogs in the neighbourhood. (stóru hundana = accusative plural)
Margir óttast breytingar meira en þeir ættu að gera.
Many people fear change more than they ought to.
óttast að + clause — 'fear that…'
To fear that something is the case, use óttast að + a finite clause. The clause often stands in the subjunctive when the feared event is uncertain or not yet real, which is the normal mood after verbs of apprehension.
Ég óttast að það sé of seint að snúa við núna.
I'm afraid it's too late to turn back now. (óttast að + subjunctive 'sé')
Lögreglan óttaðist að maðurinn væri vopnaður.
The police feared that the man was armed. (past subjunctive 'væri' in reported apprehension)
óttast vs vera hræddur við — the everyday alternative
In ordinary speech, Icelanders very often express fear not with óttast but with the adjective phrase vera hræddur við (literally "be afraid at/of"). This is the more conversational, lower-register option; óttast leans slightly more formal, literary, and emphatic — it is the word of news reports, fiction, and heightened speech.
The two differ in their grammar in a way worth memorising:
- óttast
- accusative direct object: ég óttast myrkrið.
- vera hræddur við
- accusative governed by the preposition við: ég er hrædd við myrkrið.
Both end up with the accusative, but for different reasons — óttast assigns it directly as a verb, while hræddur við assigns it through the preposition við. Note too that hræddur is an adjective and so agrees with the subject: a man says ég er hræddur, a woman ég er hrædd, a group við erum hrædd.
Strákurinn er hræddur við þrumur, en systir hans óttast þær ekki neitt.
The boy is afraid of thunder, but his sister isn't afraid of it at all. (hræddur við þrumur vs. óttast þær — both accusative)
Ekki vera hrædd, þetta er bara köttur.
Don't be afraid, it's only a cat. (informal reassurance with the adjective, feminine agreement 'hrædd')
Why a deponent at all?
If it bothers you that an -st verb takes an object, it helps to know that óttast is built on the old noun ótti ("fear, dread"). The verb originally meant something like "feel dread in oneself," and the -st froze in place as the dread turned outward onto an object. You do not need this history to use the verb, but it explains the apparent contradiction: the -st is a fossil of an inward feeling, while the accusative object marks the outward target of that feeling. Modern Icelandic simply lists óttast as a deponent and moves on — and so should you.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég ótta myrkrið.
Incorrect — there is no active *ótta; the verb exists only in the -st form. Use óttast.
✅ Ég óttast myrkrið.
I'm afraid of the dark.
❌ Hún óttast við hundinn.
Incorrect — óttast takes a bare accusative object, not a 'við' phrase. The 'við' belongs to the adjective phrase hræddur við.
✅ Hún óttast hundinn.
She's afraid of the dog.
❌ Við óttuðust storminn.
Incorrect — the past 1st-person PLURAL is óttuðumst, not óttuðust (that's the 3rd-person plural).
✅ Við óttuðumst storminn.
We were afraid of the storm.
❌ Ég er hræddur óttast prófið.
Incorrect — don't blend the two constructions. Pick one: either óttast prófið OR vera hræddur við prófið.
✅ Ég er hræddur við prófið.
I'm afraid of the exam.
❌ Þú óttastur ekkert.
Incorrect — the -st form takes no personal -ur ending; it's just óttast for þú.
✅ Þú óttast ekkert.
You're not afraid of anything.
Key Takeaways
- óttast / óttaðist / óttuðust / óttast — a deponent verb: it has only the middle (-st) form, with no active counterpart.
- Despite the -st, it takes an ordinary accusative object: óttast myrkrið, óttast breytingar, óttast hundinn.
- Present singular is invariant óttast (ég/þú/hann); plural restores the endings: óttumst / óttist / óttast. Past plural is óttuðumst / óttuðust / óttuðust — never \óttuðust for *við.
- óttast að
- clause = "fear that…", typically with the subjunctive for uncertain events.
- The everyday, lower-register alternative is vera hræddur við
- accusative — here the adjective hræddur agrees with the subject; óttast is more formal and literary.
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef óttast.
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