segja ("to say, to tell") looks short but is one of the trickier high-frequency verbs, because its stem changes shape between the present and the past. In the present it keeps a j (segi, segja, segjum); in the past it collapses to sagði, and the past plural takes a u-umlaut: sögðum, sögðu. On top of that, segja is the gateway to reported speech, where it characteristically triggers the subjunctive in the clause that follows. This is the single most important fact about the verb — and the one most courses skip.
Conjugation
Class: weak, j-verb (the -ði preterite with stem change seg- → sag-). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef sagt "I have said."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að segja |
| 3sg present | segir |
| 3sg past | sagði |
| Supine | sagt |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | segi | sagði |
| þú | segir | sagðir |
| hann / hún / það | segir | sagði |
| við | segjum | sögðum |
| þið | segið | sögðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | segja | sögðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | segi | segði |
| þú | segir | segðir |
| hann / hún / það | segi | segði |
| við | segjum | segðum |
| þið | segið | segðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | segi | segðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | seg! / segðu (with attached pronoun) |
| Imperative (þið) | segið! |
| Supine | sagt |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | sagður / sögð / sagt |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | segjast — "to say of oneself / claim" |
segja — saying things
In its plainest use segja introduces what someone said. The imperative segðu ("say! / tell me!") is one of the most common spoken forms — segðu mér "tell me."
Hvað sagðir þú? Ég heyrði ekki.
What did you say? I didn't hear.
Segðu mér sannleikann.
Tell me the truth.
Þau sögðu ekki neitt allan tímann.
They didn't say anything the whole time.
Reported speech: segja að + subjunctive
When you report what someone says or said, the clause introduced by að ("that") goes into the subjunctive — present subjunctive sé after a present-tense segir, past subjunctive væri after a past-tense sagði. This is because the speaker is relaying a claim, not vouching for it as fact. English has no equivalent move; we keep the indicative ("she says she is tired"). In Icelandic the subjunctive is the signal that the words belong to someone else.
Hún segir að hún sé veik í dag.
She says (that) she's sick today.
Hann sagði að hann væri á leiðinni.
He said (that) he was on the way.
Þau segja að það verði rigning um helgina.
They say it'll rain over the weekend.
segja frá — "tell about" (+ dative)
To tell about something — to recount or narrate it — use segja frá + dative. The thing recounted is in the dative, which surprises English speakers who expect a direct object.
Segðu mér frá ferðinni þinni!
Tell me about your trip!
Hann sagði okkur frá slysinu.
He told us about the accident.
segjast — the middle voice "to claim"
The -st form segjast means "to say of oneself, to claim," and it takes a following infinitive: hann segist vera veikur "he says (he himself) is sick / claims to be sick."
Hún segist ætla að koma seinna.
She says she's going to come later.
Common Mistakes
❌ Þau sagðuðu ekki neitt.
Incorrect — the 3pl past is sögðu (with u-umlaut), not a regularised 'sagðuðu'
✅ Þau sögðu ekki neitt.
They didn't say anything.
❌ Við sagðum það aldrei.
Incorrect — the past plural takes u-umlaut: sögðum, not 'sagðum'
✅ Við sögðum það aldrei.
We never said that.
❌ Hún segir að hún er veik.
Incorrect — reported speech after segja að takes the subjunctive sé, not indicative er
✅ Hún segir að hún sé veik.
She says she's sick.
❌ Segðu mér um ferðina.
Incorrect — 'tell about' is segja frá + dative, not segja um
✅ Segðu mér frá ferðinni.
Tell me about the trip.
Key Takeaways
- segja / segir / sagði / sagt — a weak j-verb: present keeps the j (segjum), past drops to sag- (sagði).
- u-umlaut in the past plural and feminine participle: s*ögðum, sögðu, sö*gð.
- Reported speech: segir/sagði að ... triggers the subjunctive (sé / væri) — the marker that the claim is someone else's.
- segja frá
- dative = "tell about"; segjast
- infinitive = "claim to."
- dative = "tell about"; segjast
- The imperative segðu ("tell me") is everywhere in speech; auxiliary is hafa (ég hef sagt).
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- Weak Verbs: The Four ClassesA2 — The weak verb system — verbs that build their past tense with a dental suffix (-aði, -di, -ði, -ti) instead of a vowel change — split into four classes by their thematic vowel and present pattern, including the Class-4 j-verbs that hide a strong-looking e→a shift inside a weak conjugation.