tala ("to talk, to speak") is the verb to learn first if you want to understand how most Icelandic verbs work. It is the textbook example of a weak Class-1 verb — the largest and most predictable verb class in the language, the one that ends its past tense in -aði. Master tala and you have effectively mastered the conjugation of thousands of verbs, from borða "eat" to elska "love" — the whole regular machinery runs the same way. This page also covers the two prepositions tala lives with: tala við ("talk to") and tala um ("talk about").
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 1 (the -aði preterite). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef talað "I have spoken."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að tala |
| 3sg present | talar |
| 3sg past | talaði |
| Supine | talað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | tala | talaði |
| þú | talar | talaðir |
| hann / hún / það | talar | talaði |
| við | tölum | töluðum |
| þið | talið | töluðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | tala | töluðu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | tali | talaði |
| þú | talir | talaðir |
| hann / hún / það | tali | talaði |
| við | tölum | töluðum |
| þið | talið | töluðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | tali | töluðu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | talaðu |
| Imperative (þið) | talið! |
| Supine | talað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | talaður / töluð / talað |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | talast (við) — "to converse / be on speaking terms" |
The one trap: u-umlaut in the "we" and plural-past forms
Everything about tala is regular except one orthographic reflex that catches every beginner: whenever an ending begins with -u-, the stem vowel a is forced to become ö. That is why "we speak" is tölum, not "talum," and why the whole past plural is töluðum / töluðuð / töluðu, not "taluðum." This is not optional and it is not a spelling quirk of this one verb — Icelandic applies u-umlaut automatically across the entire language. Learning to expect it in tölum trains your ear and eye for förum (fara), tökum (taka), and hundreds of others.
Talar þú íslensku?
Do you speak Icelandic?
Við tölum bara ensku heima hjá okkur.
We only speak English at home.
Þau töluðu saman í tvo tíma.
They talked together for two hours.
tala við — "talk to" (+ accusative)
To say you talk to someone, use tala við + accusative. English "to" makes learners reach for a dative-like preposition, but við here governs the accusative.
Ég þarf að tala við þig um eitthvað.
I need to talk to you about something.
Talaðu við lækninn áður en þú ferð.
Talk to the doctor before you go.
tala um — "talk about" (+ accusative)
For the topic of conversation, use tala um + accusative. Notice that the same sentence can stack both: tala við einhvern um eitthvað ("talk to someone about something"). English overloads a single word "to" for both the listener and, with "about," the topic; Icelandic keeps the two roles visibly distinct with við (the person) and um (the subject matter), and both happen to govern the accusative — so once you have the cases right, the structure mirrors English neatly.
Við vorum að tala um þig!
We were just talking about you!
Hún talar aldrei um vinnuna sína.
She never talks about her work.
The imperative and "speak up"
The familiar command is talaðu ("speak! / talk!"), formed by attaching -ðu to the stem. In everyday use you will hear talaðu hægar ("speak more slowly") constantly as a learner — memorise it now.
Talaðu hægar, ég er að læra íslensku.
Speak more slowly, I'm learning Icelandic.
Common Mistakes
❌ Við talum saman á morgun.
Incorrect — the -um ending triggers u-umlaut, so the stem a becomes ö
✅ Við tölum saman á morgun.
We'll talk tomorrow.
❌ Ég talaði til hans í gær.
Incorrect — 'talk to' is tala við + accusative, not tala til
✅ Ég talaði við hann í gær.
I talked to him yesterday.
❌ Þau talaðuðu um veðrið.
Incorrect — the 3pl past is töluðu (one -ðu), with u-umlaut; talaðuðu is a double-ending invention
✅ Þau töluðu um veðrið.
They talked about the weather.
❌ Talar þú um íslensku?
Incorrect — to speak a language is just tala + accusative, no um (which would mean 'talk about' the language)
✅ Talar þú íslensku?
Do you speak Icelandic?
Key Takeaways
- tala / talar / talaði / talað — the model weak Class-1 verb; the past tense is the fully regular -aði.
- u-umlaut: a → ö before any -u- ending — við tölum, past plural t*öluðum / tö*luðu.
- tala við
- accusative = "talk to"; tala um
- accusative = "talk about."
- accusative = "talk to"; tala um
- To speak a language, just use tala
- accusative (tala íslensku) — no preposition.
- Auxiliary is hafa: ég hef talað.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- The Weak Preterite: -aði, -di, -ði, -tiA2 — How to choose and form the weak past tense — Class-1 -a verbs take -aði (tala → talaði, plural töluðum), Class-2 verbs take the short dental -di/-ði/-ti picked by the preceding sound (reyndi, dæmdi, keypti) — with the full tala paradigm and the 'when in doubt, -aði' default for unknown verbs.
- Present Tense: Weak VerbsA1 — The present conjugation of the weak verb classes — the kalla-class (kalla, kallar, köllum…), the dæma/reyna -i-class (ég dæmi, ég reyni), and the j-class (telja → tel, teljum) — including the 1pl u-umlaut and the key split over whether the 1sg is bare or -i.