vita is "to know" in the sense of knowing a fact — knowing that something is the case, knowing information, knowing an answer. It is one of the three Icelandic verbs that share English "know," and choosing the right one is a daily test: vita (a fact), kunna (a skill), þekkja (a person or place you're familiar with). vita is a preterite-present verb with a wildly irregular present — veit / veist / veit — that you simply memorise. This page goes well beyond "veit means know": it covers the syntax, the af/um phrases, and the set expressions that mark a fluent speaker.
Conjugation
Class: preterite-present (present singular descends from an old past; no -r ending). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef vitað "I have known."
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að vita |
| 3sg present | veit |
| 3sg past | vissi |
| Supine | vitað |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | veit | vissi |
| þú | veist | vissir |
| hann / hún / það | veit | vissi |
| við | vitum | vissum |
| þið | vitið | vissuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | vita | vissu |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | viti | vissi |
| þú | vitir | vissir |
| hann / hún / það | viti | vissi |
| við | vitum | vissum |
| þið | vitið | vissuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | viti | vissu |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | vit! / vittu (with attached pronoun; rare) |
| Imperative (þið) | vitið! |
| Supine | vitað |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | vitaður / vituð / vitað ("known"; vitað mál = "a known thing") |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | vitast (rare; "það vitnast" = it becomes known uses a related verb) |
Preterite-present: the bare veit
vita belongs to the same ancient class as eiga, kunna, geta, mega: the present singular descends from an old strong past, so it carries no -r — ég veit, hann veit, exactly parallel to English I know → I wot (the archaic cousin of this very verb). The plural reverts to the expected vit- stem (vitum, vitið, vita), and the past is the weak-looking vissi / vissu. English speakers get a small bonus: veit and the obsolete English wot are literally the same Germanic word.
Ég veit ekki hvar lyklarnir eru.
I don't know where the keys are.
Veist þú hvenær búðin opnar?
Do you know when the shop opens?
Við vissum ekki að þú værir komin heim.
We didn't know you were back home.
Syntax: vita takes an að-clause
vita most often introduces a fact-clause — vita að… "know that…" — or an indirect question (vita hvar / hvenær / hvort…). It does not normally take a person or a skill as a direct object; that is the job of þekkja and kunna. When it does take a plain noun object, it is something abstract and factual: vita svarið "know the answer," vita sannleikann "know the truth."
Ég veit að þú reyndir þitt besta.
I know (that) you did your best.
Hún veit svarið en vill ekki segja það.
She knows the answer but won't say it.
vita af and vita um — being aware
Two prepositional phrases add nuance. vita af (+ dative) means "to be aware of / know of the existence of" something — to have it on your radar. vita um (+ accusative) is close, often "know about / have information about." Ég vissi ekki af þessu "I had no idea about this."
Ég veit af góðum stað ef þið viljið fá kaffi.
I know of a good place if you want to get coffee.
Vissir þú um fundinn á morgun?
Did you know about the meeting tomorrow?
vita vs kunna vs þekkja
This is the distinction worth internalising. vita = know a fact or piece of information (ég veit hvað klukkan er). kunna = know how to do something, a learned skill (ég kann að synda). þekkja = be acquainted with a person, place, or thing (ég þekki hana, ég þekki þennan bæ). English collapses all three into "know"; Icelandic keeps them strictly apart, so "I know her" is þekki, never veit.
Ég þekki hana vel, en ég veit ekki hvar hún á heima núna.
I know her well, but I don't know where she lives now.
The set phrase: að því er ég best veit
A polished hedge worth knowing: að því er ég best veit "as far as I know" (literally "to that which I best know"). It is the natural Icelandic way to qualify a claim, slightly formal but common in writing and careful speech.
Að því er ég best veit er safnið lokað á mánudögum.
As far as I know, the museum is closed on Mondays.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég þekki að það rignir á morgun.
Incorrect — knowing a fact is vita, not þekkja: ég veit að…
✅ Ég veit að það rignir á morgun.
I know (that) it'll rain tomorrow.
❌ Ég veit hana.
Incorrect — for being acquainted with a person you need þekkja, not vita
✅ Ég þekki hana.
I know her.
❌ Ég veitur ekki.
Incorrect — vita is preterite-present; the 1sg/3sg is the bare veit, no -ur
✅ Ég veit ekki.
I don't know.
❌ Hann vitaði það ekki.
Incorrect — vita is irregular; the past is vissi, never the weak vitaði
✅ Hann vissi það ekki.
He didn't know that.
Key Takeaways
- vita / veit / vissi / vitað — a preterite-present; present singular is the bare veit (no -r), plural reverts to vitum/vitið/vita, past is vissi/vissu.
- vita knows facts: it takes an að-clause or indirect question, not a person.
- vita af (+ dat.) / vita um (+ acc.) = "be aware of / know about."
- Three "knows": vita (fact), kunna (skill), þekkja (acquaintance). "I know her" = þekki.
- Polished hedge: að því er ég best veit "as far as I know."
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- vita vs kunna vs þekkja: Three Ways to 'Know'A2 — A decision guide for the three Icelandic verbs that all translate as English 'know' — vita for facts, kunna for skills and memorised content (including languages), and þekkja for being acquainted with a person or place.
- Strong Verbs and Ablaut: OverviewA2 — The strong verb system: verbs that build the past by changing their stem vowel (ablaut) instead of adding an ending, with FOUR principal parts — infinitive, preterite singular, preterite plural, supine — and the crucial split where the past singular and past plural can carry different vowels (fann vs fundu).
- þekkja (to know / recognise)A2 — Full conjugation of the weak j-verb þekkja (þekki / þekkti / þekktu / þekkt), its accusative object, the preaspirated -kk-, and the crucial three-way split between þekkja (know a person/place), vita (know a fact) and kunna (know how / know by heart).