Forritið uppfærist ekki án rafmagns.

not

Breakdown of Forritið uppfærist ekki án rafmagns.

• án: without
• rafmagnið: the electricity
• forritið: the app

Questions & Answers about Forritið uppfærist ekki án rafmagns.

What does -ið in Forritið mean?

-ið is the suffixed definite article for a neuter singular noun in Icelandic.

• forrit = a program
• forritið = the program
  Here it’s also in the nominative case because it’s the subject of the sentence.

Why is the verb uppfærist written like that, and what is its base form?

uppfærist is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of the verb uppfærast (the -st form). The base forms you’ll often see are:

• uppfæra = to update (something) (active/transitive)
• uppfærast = to get updated / update itself (middle/passive-like -st form)

So Forritið uppfærist literally behaves like The program updates itself / gets updated.

Is uppfærist passive voice?

Not exactly the same as English passive, but it’s often used with a similar meaning. Icelandic -st verbs commonly express:

• something happening “by itself,” or
• an impersonal/passive-like idea where the agent isn’t mentioned.

Compare:

• Forritið uppfærist. = The program updates (itself) / gets updated.