The Simple Past of Weak Verbs
Icelandic verbs are divided into "strong" and "weak" verbs. Weak verbs form the past tense by adding a suffix to the stem.
The most common group of weak verbs (Group 1) has infinitives ending in -a. For the first person (ég) and the third person singular (hann, hún, það, or specific names), you simply drop the final -a and add -aði.
| Pronoun | Suffix | Example (labba) |
|---|---|---|
| Ég (I) | -aði | labbaði |
| Hann / hún / það (He / she / it) | -aði | labbaði |
| I walked home yesterday. | Ég labbaði heim í gær. |
Talking About When It Happened
To set the scene and recount events, you will often use time phrases like í gær (yesterday), í dag (today), or um helgina (over the weekend).
| He walked to town over the weekend. | Hann labbaði í bæinn um helgina. |
| She also cycled to town yesterday. | Hún hjólaði líka í bæinn í gær. |
More Group 1 Verbs
Many everyday actions belong to this verb group. Whether you are ordering food, tasting something, cleaning, or calling out to someone, you will use the -aði ending to describe what you or someone else did.
| Jón ordered the pizza. | Jón pantaði pitsuna. |
| I tasted the pizza. | Ég smakkaði pitsuna. |
| Dad mopped the kitchen and I mopped the living room. | Pabbi skúraði eldhúsið og ég skúraði stofuna. |
| The teacher called to the student. | Kennarinn kallaði á nemandann. |
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