sjást is the middle-voice (miðmynd) form of sjá ("to see"), and it carries two distinct readings that a learner has to keep apart. With a singular or impersonal subject it is anticausative: "to be visible, to be seen, to show" — það sést ekki neitt "nothing can be seen." With a plural subject it is reciprocal: "to see each other, to meet" — and in that use it gives Icelandic one of its most common everyday goodbyes, við sjáumst! "see you!" (literally "we'll see each other"). Both readings come from the same -st suffix doing two of its standard jobs; context — above all, whether the subject is singular/impersonal or plural — tells you which is meant. This page gives the full paradigm and drills both readings.
Conjugation
Base verb: sjá (strong, highly irregular). Voice: middle (miðmynd). Auxiliary: hafa — við höfum ekki sést lengi "we haven't seen each other in a while." The -st attaches to sjá's forms; the present singular collapses to sést for all three persons, and the irregular present plural sjáum / sjáið / sjá takes -st to give sjáumst / sjáist / sjást.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að sjást |
| 1sg present | sést |
| 1sg past | sást |
| 1pl past | sáumst |
| Supine | sést |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | sést | sást |
| þú | sést | sást |
| hann / hún / það | sést | sást |
| við | sjáumst | sáumst |
| þið | sjáist | sáust |
| þeir / þær / þau | sjást | sáust |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | sjáist | sæist |
| þú | sjáist | sæist |
| hann / hún / það | sjáist | sæist |
| við | sjáumst | sæjumst |
| þið | sjáist | sæjust |
| þeir / þær / þau | sjáist | sæjust |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þið) | sjáist! (rare) |
| Supine | sést |
| Past participle (n) | sést |
Reading 1 — anticausative: 'be visible / be seen'
With a singular subject or the impersonal það, sjást means "to be visible, to show, to be seen" — there is no one doing the seeing in view; the thing simply is visible (or isn't). This is the anticausative use, the same family as opnast "open by itself." The negated impersonal það sést ekki neitt "you can't see a thing / nothing is visible" is an everyday fixed expression, common in fog, darkness, or a snowstorm.
Það sést ekki neitt í þessari þoku.
You can't see a thing in this fog. (impersonal anticausative — nothing is visible)
Fjöllin sjást vel í dag, það er svo tært.
The mountains show up clearly today, it's so clear out. (plural subject, but anticausative 'be visible')
Það sést varla á blettinum eftir að ég þvoði hann.
The stain is barely visible after I washed it. (be visible / show)
Note that a plural subject does not force the reciprocal reading: fjöllin sjást "the mountains are visible" is anticausative because mountains cannot see each other. The reciprocal reading needs a subject that can do the seeing — people.
Reading 2 — reciprocal: 'see each other / meet'
With a human plural subject, sjást means "to see one another," and by extension "to meet up, to be in contact." This is where the -st replaces an English "each other": þau sjást oft "they see each other often." From this comes the parting formula við sjáumst! — literally "we'll see each other," used exactly like English "see you!" / "see you around." It is the standard informal goodbye, and it is inherently reciprocal, so you never add hvort annað "each other" to it.
Við sjáumst á morgun, þá! Bless.
See you tomorrow, then! Bye. (reciprocal — the everyday goodbye)
Þau sjást varla lengur eftir að hún flutti norður.
They hardly see each other anymore since she moved north. (reciprocal 'see each other')
Við höfum ekki sést í mörg ár — hvað segirðu gott?
We haven't seen each other in years — how are you doing? (perfect 'höfum sést')
How to tell the two readings apart
The cue is the subject. An impersonal það or a non-seeing subject (mountains, a stain, a light) forces the anticausative "be visible." A human plural subject (við, þau, vinirnir) normally triggers the reciprocal "see each other." When a sentence is genuinely ambiguous — þau sáust could be "they were seen / spotted" (anticausative passive-like) or "they saw each other" (reciprocal) — the surrounding context resolves it, and Icelandic speakers feel no need to disambiguate with extra words.
Þau sáust síðast á flugvellinum í júní.
They were last seen at the airport in June. (anticausative 'were seen/spotted'; context = a report)
Common Mistakes
❌ Við sjáumst hvort annað á morgun.
Incorrect — sjást is already reciprocal; adding 'hvort annað' ('each other') is redundant.
✅ Við sjáumst á morgun.
See you tomorrow.
❌ Það sjást ekki neitt í þokunni.
Incorrect — with the impersonal/indefinite það, the verb is singular: 'það sést', not 'það sjást'.
✅ Það sést ekki neitt í þokunni.
You can't see a thing in the fog.
❌ Við sáumst hvor aðra í gær (meaning 'we saw each other').
Incorrect — the reciprocal is built into sjást; drop the 'hvor aðra'. (And the past 1pl is sáumst.)
✅ Við sáumst í gær.
We saw each other yesterday.
❌ Ég sé þig á morgun (as a goodbye).
Unidiomatic for 'see you' — the parting formula is the reciprocal middle: við sjáumst.
✅ Við sjáumst á morgun!
See you tomorrow!
Key Takeaways
- sést / sást / sáumst / sést — the middle voice of sjá, with two readings.
- Anticausative "be visible / be seen": typically with impersonal það or a non-seeing subject — það sést ekki neitt "nothing is visible."
- Reciprocal "see each other / meet": with a human plural subject — þau sjást oft — giving the everyday goodbye við sjáumst! "see you!"
- The subject disambiguates: impersonal/non-seeing → anticausative; human plural → reciprocal. Genuine overlaps are left to context.
- The reciprocal is inherently "each other," so never add hvort annað; the present singular and supine are all sést; the perfect uses hafa (höfum sést).
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- sjá (to see)A2 — Full A2 conjugation of the strong contracted verb sjá (sé / sá / sáu / séð), with the tricky present sé/sérð/sér, the preterite sá/sáu, the middle voice sjást 'be visible / see each other', and the idioms sjá um, sjá fyrir, and sjáumst.
- Reciprocal and Anticausative -stB2 — The two most productive jobs of the -st middle voice: the reciprocal ('each other' — hittast, sjást, kyssast, berjast) and the anticausative ('happen by itself' — opnast, lokast, breytast). How the reciprocal folds in English 'each other' and the anticausative detransitivises a verb, plus why the anticausative is Icelandic's natural alternative to a passive for events with no agent.
- The Middle Voice (-st): OverviewB1 — An orientation to the Icelandic middle voice — the verb form built by suffixing -st — covering its four meaning-types (reflexive, reciprocal, anticausative/passive-like, and lexicalised) and the crucial fact that the meaning of an -st verb is not predictable from its base, so many are their own dictionary entries.
- Conjugating Middle-Voice VerbsB1 — How to build the forms of -st (middle-voice) verbs across the whole paradigm: the present in which 2sg and 3sg merge because -st swallows the personal -r, the often-bare 1sg, the preterite that stacks a dental + -st (settist, klæddist, komst), and the supine in -st — drilled on the weak verb setjast and the strong verb komast.
- hittast (to meet each other)B1 — Full conjugation of hittast (hittumst / hittust / hittust / hist), the reciprocal middle voice of hitta, meaning 'meet each other / meet up'. Inherently plural; the -st already encodes 'each other', so adding hvort annað is redundant. Covers við hittumst, the past hittumst/hittust, and the contrast with active hitta.