When telling a story—especially an ancient myth or legend—we often need to describe an action that had already happened before another event in the past. In English, we use "had" plus a verb (e.g., "had stolen"). In Icelandic, this is the past perfect tense.
To form the past perfect, use the past tense of the auxiliary verb hafa (to have) followed by the main verb in its supine form (sagnbót).
The supine is the same unchanging form used for the present perfect tense (usually ending in -að, -t, or -ið). The auxiliary verb hafa, however, must be conjugated in the past tense to match the subject:
| Pronoun | Form of hafa |
|---|---|
| ég / hann / hún / það | hafði |
| þú | hafðir |
| við | höfðum |
| þið | höfðuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | höfðu |
Let's look at some examples of the past perfect tense in the context of Norse mythology. Notice how hafa is conjugated while the main verb stays in the supine:
| The mythology is interesting, but I had never heard the prophecy. | Goðafræðin er áhugaverð en ég hafði aldrei heyrt spádóminn. |
| I had read a lot about the mythology and the battle. | Ég hafði lesið mikið um goðafræðina og bardagann. |
| The hero had made a plan to steal the gold. | Hetjan hafði gert áætlun um að stela gullinu. |
Sequencing Events in the Past
The past perfect is most commonly used to set up a timeline and contrast two events in the past. Conjunctions like áður en (before) and þegar (when) are frequently used to connect the earlier action (past perfect) with the later action (simple past).
This establishes a clear sequence of events, showing exactly what had already happened before the next action occurred:
| The god had created the world before the battle started. | Guðinn hafði skapað heiminn áður en bardaginn byrjaði. |
| The giant had stolen the sword before the god woke up. | Jötunninn hafði stolið sverðinu áður en guðinn vaknaði. |
| The hero went to the giant when the battle had started. | Hetjan fór til jötunsins þegar bardaginn hafði byrjað. |