taka ("to take") is a high-mileage verb: beyond its literal meaning it powers a whole family of fixed expressions — taka þátt "take part," taka eftir "notice," taka ákvörðun "make a decision" — and it has a middle-voice form takast that means "to succeed" and behaves in a way that has no English parallel: the person who succeeds appears in the dative, not the nominative. This page covers the paradigm, the light-verb idioms, and that dative-subject quirk.
Conjugation
Class: strong, class 6 (ablaut a–ó–e), with present-tense fronting (tek) and u-umlaut in the plural (tökum). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef tekið "I have taken." Takes the accusative.
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að taka |
| 3sg present | tekur |
| 3sg past | tók |
| Supine | tekið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | tek | tók |
| þú | tekur | tókst |
| hann / hún / það | tekur | tók |
| við | tökum | tókum |
| þið | takið | tókuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | taka | tóku |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | taki | tæki |
| þú | takir | tækir |
| hann / hún / það | taki | tæki |
| við | tökum | tækjum |
| þið | takið | tækjuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | taki | tækju |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | tak! / taktu (with attached pronoun) |
| Imperative (þið) | takið! |
| Supine | tekið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | tekinn / tekin / tekið |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | takast (3sg tekst, past tókst) |
The vowels and the u-umlaut
The principal parts tek / tók / tóku / tekið give you everything. The present singular fronts to e (tek, tekur), the past is ó across the board (tók, tókum, tóku), and the supine and participle return to e (tekið, tekinn). The plural present "we take" is tökum — a becomes ö because the ending -um starts with u. Writing "takum" is the single most common spelling slip here.
Ég tek strætó númer fjórtán í vinnuna.
I take bus number fourteen to work.
Tókstu lyfin þín í morgun?
Did you take your medicine this morning?
Við tökum eitt skref í einu.
We take one step at a time.
Light-verb idioms: taka as a "do" verb
In a huge number of fixed phrases taka is a light verb — it carries little meaning of its own and the noun beside it does the work, much as English uses "take a decision," "take part," "take a picture." Learn these as units; the noun's case (usually accusative) is built in:
- taka þátt (í + dative) — take part (in)
- taka eftir (+ dative) — notice, pay attention to
- taka ákvörðun — make a decision
- taka mynd — take a photo
- taka á móti (+ dative) — receive, welcome
Tókstu eftir nýju hárgreiðslunni hennar?
Did you notice her new haircut?
Við tókum þátt í keppninni í fyrra.
We took part in the competition last year.
Þú verður að taka ákvörðun fyrir mánudag.
You have to make a decision before Monday.
takast — to succeed, with a dative subject
This is the high-value insight on the page. The middle voice takast means "to succeed, to manage," and the person who succeeds is in the dative, while the thing achieved is the grammatical subject. So Icelandic does not say "I succeeded"; it says, literally, "to-me it-succeeded": mér tókst (það).
Mér tókst að klára verkefnið á réttum tíma.
I managed to finish the project on time. (lit. 'to-me it-succeeded to finish…')
Honum tókst ekki að opna hurðina.
He didn't manage to open the door.
This dative-subject pattern is shared by a small club of Icelandic verbs (líka "like," finnast "find/think," takast "succeed"). The verb stays in the 3rd person (tókst, tekst) no matter who the dative person is — that is why it is mér tókst and honum tókst, never "ég tókst."
Common Mistakes
❌ Við takum mynd af útsýninu.
Incorrect — the -um ending triggers u-umlaut: a → ö
✅ Við tökum mynd af útsýninu.
We're taking a picture of the view.
❌ Ég tak strætó.
Incorrect — the 1sg present fronts to tek, not the bare stem
✅ Ég tek strætó.
I take the bus.
❌ Ég tókst að klára verkefnið.
Incorrect — takast takes a dative subject; 'I' must be mér, and the verb stays 3rd person
✅ Mér tókst að klára verkefnið.
I managed to finish the project.
❌ Ég hef tók ákvörðun.
Incorrect — after hafa use the supine tekið, not the past tók
✅ Ég hef tekið ákvörðun.
I've made a decision.
Key Takeaways
- taka / tek / tók / tekið — strong class 6; present singular fronts to tek, plural takes u-umlaut tökum.
- taka takes the accusative and powers many light-verb idioms (taka þátt, taka eftir, taka mynd).
- The perfect uses hafa
- supine: ég hef tekið.
- takast = "to succeed," with a dative subject: mér tókst, honum tókst — the verb never agrees with the person.
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