sjá ("to see") is a short, contracted strong verb that packs an unusual number of traps into very few letters. The present singular is sé / sérð / sér, the past is sá / sáu, and the supine is séð — all heavily accented vowels you must get exactly right. This is the fuller A2 treatment of the verb: beyond the bare paradigm, it covers the high-value idioms sjá um ("take care of"), sjá fyrir ("foresee / provide for"), the middle voice sjást ("be visible / see each other"), and the everyday parting word sjáumst ("see you"). One warning up front: the 1sg present sé is spelled identically to the present subjunctive sé of vera — context, not form, tells them apart.
Conjugation
Class: strong, contracted (an old Class-5 verb; the stem has contracted around a lost consonant, giving the long accented vowels). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef séð "I have seen."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að sjá |
| 3sg present | sér |
| 3sg past | sá |
| Supine | séð |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | sé | sá |
| þú | sérð | sást |
| hann / hún / það | sér | sá |
| við | sjáum | sáum |
| þið | sjáið | sáuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | sjá | sáu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | sjái | sæi |
| þú | sjáir | sæir |
| hann / hún / það | sjái | sæi |
| við | sjáum | sæjum |
| þið | sjáið | sæjuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | sjái | sæju |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | sjá! / sjáðu (with attached pronoun) |
| Imperative (þið) | sjáið! |
| Supine | séð |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | séður / séð / séð |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | sjást — "to be visible / see one another" |
The present trap: sé vs. sé
The 1sg present ég sé ("I see") is spelled and pronounced exactly like sé, the present subjunctive of vera used in wishes and reported speech (að ég sé "that I be"). They are unrelated forms that happen to collide. Only the surrounding clause disambiguates them — a real see-verb takes a visible object, while the vera form sits inside an að clause.
Ég sé ekki neitt í þessari þoku.
I can't see anything in this fog.
Sérðu fjöllin þarna í fjarska?
Can you see the mountains over there in the distance?
Ég sá hann í bænum í gær.
I saw him in town yesterday.
sjá um — "take care of / be in charge of"
The idiom sjá um + accusative means to take care of, handle, or be responsible for something. It is one of the most useful phrasal verbs in the language — used for everything from chores to running an event.
Ég sé um matinn, sérðu um drykkina?
I'll take care of the food — will you handle the drinks?
Hver sér um börnin á meðan?
Who's taking care of the kids in the meantime?
sjást — middle voice "be visible / see each other"
The -st form sjást does double duty. As a plain passive-like form it means "to be visible / be seen"; with a plural subject it is reciprocal, "to see one another." From the latter comes the everyday goodbye sjáumst ("(we'll) see each other," i.e. "see you").
Það sést varla neitt í þessu myrkri.
You can hardly see anything in this darkness. (lit. nothing is visible)
Sjáumst á morgun!
See you tomorrow!
sjá fyrir — "foresee / provide for"
sjá fyrir has two senses depending on the object: with an abstract object it means "foresee" (sjá eitthvað fyrir), and sjá fyrir + dative means "provide for" someone (sjá fyrir fjölskyldunni "provide for the family").
Þetta gat enginn séð fyrir.
No one could have foreseen this.
Common Mistakes
❌ Þú sérður vel héðan.
Incorrect — 'you see' is sérð, with a single -ð, not 'sérður'
✅ Þú sérð vel héðan.
You can see well from here.
❌ Ég sáaði hann í gær.
Incorrect — sjá is strong; the past is sá, never a regularised -aði form
✅ Ég sá hann í gær.
I saw him yesterday.
❌ Við sáum ekki um þetta lengur.
Understandable, but for present 'take care of', use the present sjáum, not the past sáum
✅ Við sjáum ekki um þetta lengur.
We don't take care of this anymore.
❌ Ég hef sed þessa mynd.
Incorrect — the supine is séð, with the accented é; 'sed' is not a word
✅ Ég hef séð þessa mynd.
I've seen this film.
Key Takeaways
- sjá / sér / sá / séð — strong, contracted; present singular sé / sérð / sér, plural restores the j (sjáum, sjáið, sjá).
- The past is all long á: sá, sást, sá, sáum, sáuð, sáu; the supine is the accented séð.
- 1sg present sé collides with the vera subjunctive sé — context disambiguates.
- sjá um (+ acc) = "take care of"; sjá fyrir = "foresee / provide for"; sjást = "be visible / see each other," giving the goodbye sjáumst.
- Auxiliary is hafa with the invariable supine: ég hef séð.
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- vera (to be)A1 — The full conjugation of Icelandic's most frequent and most irregular verb — present er/ert/er/erum/eruð/eru, past var/varst/var/vorum/voruð/voru, subjunctive sé/væri, imperative vertu — plus its jobs as copula, perfect auxiliary, and passive auxiliary.