skemmta ("to entertain") is the verb you reach for whenever someone is having a good time — but the way Icelandic phrases "having fun" is the lesson of this card. You do not be having fun in Icelandic; you entertain yourself: ég skemmti mér ("I'm having fun," literally "I entertain to-myself"). The verb governs the dative — you entertain to someone — and its most common everyday use is the reflexive skemmta sér, where that dative someone is yourself. So skemmta is really two phrasebook entries in one: skemmta einhverjum ("entertain someone else") and skemmta sér ("have fun, enjoy oneself"). On top of that, it hides a small trap in its conjugation: the 1st-person singular is skemmti in both the present and the past, so ég skemmti mér can mean "I have fun" or "I had fun" depending on context. This page lays out the paradigm, the dative, the reflexive, and the famous adjective skemmtilegur.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 2 (the -i present, -ti preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef skemmt mér "I have had fun." The stem skemmt- is stable. Note the doubled mm and the -tt- that appears in the past plural endings: skemmtum, skemmtuð, skemmtu.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að skemmta |
| 1sg present | skemmti |
| 1sg past | skemmti |
| 3pl past | skemmtu |
| Supine | skemmt |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | skemmti | skemmti |
| þú | skemmtir | skemmtir |
| hann / hún / það | skemmtir | skemmti |
| við | skemmtum | skemmtum |
| þið | skemmtið | skemmtuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | skemmta | skemmtu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | skemmti | skemmti |
| þú | skemmtir | skemmtir |
| hann / hún / það | skemmti | skemmti |
| við | skemmtum | skemmtum |
| þið | skemmtið | skemmtuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | skemmti | skemmtu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | skemmtu (þér) — "have fun!" |
| Imperative (þið) | skemmtið (ykkur)! |
| Supine | skemmt |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | skemmtur / skemmt / skemmt (rare; the adjective skemmtilegur is the everyday derivative) |
The dative object: skemmta einhverjum
skemmta governs the dative: you entertain to someone. So "the children," börnin in the nominative, becomes börnunum in the dative after skemmta. English gives you no hint here — "entertain the children" looks like a plain accusative object — so you must tag skemmta in memory as a dative verb.
Trúðurinn skemmti börnunum allan eftirmiðdaginn.
The clown entertained the children all afternoon. (börnunum = dative plural)
Hann reyndi að skemmta gestunum með sögum að norðan.
He tried to entertain the guests with stories from up north. (gestunum = dative)
skemmta sér — the everyday 'have fun'
This is the form you will use and hear constantly. skemmta sér = "to enjoy oneself, to have fun," and because the verb is dative, the reflexive pronoun is in the dative: mér, þér, sér, okkur, ykkur, sér. Crucially, sér is the third-person reflexive, so hún skemmtir sér ("she's having fun") refers the fun back to hún herself — using henni instead would mean she is entertaining some other woman.
| Person | "have fun" (dative reflexive) |
|---|---|
| ég | ég skemmti mér |
| þú | þú skemmtir þér |
| hann / hún / það | hann skemmtir sér |
| við | við skemmtum okkur |
| þið | þið skemmtið ykkur |
| þeir / þær / þau | þeir skemmta sér |
Við skemmtum okkur konunglega í gærkvöldi.
We had a wonderful time last night. (okkur = dative reflexive; 'konunglega' = 'royally', a common intensifier)
Skemmtu þér vel í ferðinni!
Have a great time on the trip! (imperative skemmtu + dative þér)
Krakkarnir voru að skemmta sér í garðinum þegar það byrjaði að rigna.
The kids were having fun in the garden when it started to rain. (sér = third-person dative reflexive)
skemmtilegur — the adjective everyone uses
From skemmta comes one of the most useful adjectives in the language: skemmtilegur ("fun, enjoyable, entertaining"). It declines like any -legur adjective and agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case: skemmtilegur (m.), skemmtileg (f.), skemmtilegt (n.). The neuter skemmtilegt doubles as the all-purpose "that's fun / nice."
Þetta var rosalega skemmtilegt — við verðum að gera þetta aftur.
That was so much fun — we have to do this again. (neuter skemmtilegt)
Why dative, and why reflexive?
The dative on skemmta fits a broad Icelandic pattern: verbs that do something for the benefit (or amusement) of a person often put that person in the dative — hjálpa ("help"), þjóna ("serve"), svara ("answer"). Entertainment is done for someone, so the beneficiary lands in the dative. The reflexive skemmta sér then simply turns that beneficiary inward: you do the entertaining, and you are also the one entertained. English collapses this into the intransitive "have fun," but Icelandic keeps the underlying logic visible — there is always someone receiving the fun, and sér names them when that someone is the subject.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég skemmti mig vel.
Incorrect — skemmta is dative, so the reflexive is mér, not the accusative mig.
✅ Ég skemmti mér vel.
I'm having a good time.
❌ Trúðurinn skemmti börnin.
Incorrect — skemmta takes a dative object: börnunum, not the accusative börnin.
✅ Trúðurinn skemmti börnunum.
The clown entertained the children.
❌ Hún skemmtir henni á tónleikunum.
Misleading — 'henni' is a different person; to say SHE is enjoying herself, use the reflexive sér: hún skemmtir sér.
✅ Hún skemmtir sér á tónleikunum.
She's enjoying herself at the concert.
❌ Við skemmtaðum okkur í gær.
Incorrect — skemmta is a Class-2 -ti verb; the past plural is skemmtum, not a regularised -aðum.
✅ Við skemmtum okkur í gær.
We had fun yesterday.
❌ Það var mjög skemmtileg í partíinu.
Incorrect — with the dummy 'það' the adjective must be neuter: skemmtilegt.
✅ Það var mjög skemmtilegt í partíinu.
It was a lot of fun at the party.
Key Takeaways
- skemmti / skemmtir / skemmti / skemmt — a weak Class-2 verb with a -ti preterite and a stable stem.
- It governs the dative: skemmta einhverjum ("entertain someone"), e.g. skemmta börnunum, gestunum.
- The everyday meaning "have fun" is the reflexive skemmta sér, with a dative reflexive pronoun: ég skemmti mér, hún skemmtir sér, við skemmtum okkur.
- Watch the 1sg syncretism: present and past 1sg are both skemmti, so ég skemmti mér is read by context.
- The adjective skemmtilegur ("fun") agrees with its noun; neuter skemmtilegt = "that's fun."
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef skemmt mér.
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