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Past participle

The rules for forming the past participle in Icelandic vary by verb group. The past participle is used in various grammatical constructions, as outlined below.

Usage

The past participle is used:

  • 💎 With hafa or vera to form the perfect;
  • 😴 With vera or verða to form the passive voice;
  • ⚙️ After certain modal verbs like geta and sometimes skulu; and
  • 🌈 As an adjective.

Formation

Important note

In the explanations below, the masculine singular nominative is shown as the default form of the past participle, but for many uses, such as in the perfect or after modals like geta, the neuter singular nominative form (also known here as the supine🇮🇸 sagnbót) is required. This can be formed from the masculines below using the same rules as for adjectives.

Note that some verbs don’t have a masculine form of their past participle due to their meaning (often when they can’t be used with an object in the passive voice, like þora or duga). In those cases, the neuter form is given.

Weak verbs

The past participles for group 1 and 2 weak verbs are formed in a regular way:

InfinitivePast tense singularPast participle
Group 1mála
teikna
borða
málaði
teiknaði
borðaði
málaður
teiknaður
borðaður
Group 2keyra
meiða
benda
keyrði
meiddi
benti
keyrður
meiddur
bentur

Group 3

In weak group 3, there are two possible endings:

-innflýja
hrynja
flúði
hrundi
flúinn
hruninn
ð/d/t + ‑urspyrja
flytja
spurði
flutti
spurður
fluttur

The ending is determined by the last sound in the past tense stem (formed by taking the past tense singular form and removing the ending, for example flúðiflú):

Stem endingPast participle endingInfinitivePast tense stemPast participle
Vowel
or
f, l, m, n, p
-innflýja
kryfja
dylja
semja
hrynja
lepja
flú-
kruf-
dul-
sam-
hrun-
lap-
flúinn
krufinn
dulinn
saminn
hruninn
lapinn
ð, g, k, r, t-ð/d/t + -urgleðja
leggja
lykja
spyrja
flytja
glað-
lag-
luk-
spur-
flut-
gladdur
lagður
luktur
spurður
fluttur
note

In the second row, where the past participle ends in one of the dental consonants ð, d or t + -ur, the choice of dental consonant is determined by the same rules used for the past tense of group 2 and 3 weak verbs.

Dental insertion

Past participles have a full inflection like any adjective. Past participles formed from group 3 weak verbs get a dental consonant inserted between the stem and ending in certain inflectional forms, unless their stem ends in a vowel. These forms are:

  • any form where the ending starts with a or u, and
  • the masculine nominative plural (-ir) form.

As before, the choice of dental consonant is determined by the same rules used for the past tense of group 2 and 3 weak verbs.

SingularPlural
MasculineFeminineNeuterMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nom.lapinnlapinlapiðlaptirlaptarlapin
Acc.laptalapta
Dat.löptumlapinnilöptulöptum
Gen.lapinslapinnarlapinslapinna

Exceptions

The following verbs form their past participles like group 1 weak verbs, despite being in group 2 or 3:

dugadugað
lifalifað
þegjaþagað
þoraþorað

Strong verbs

The past participles of strong verbs are formed using the ending -inn and the relevant vowel change for the group they belong to. You can see a summary of the groups and vowel series for each group here. There are some slight variations and irregularities within each group, as you’d expect by now for strong verbs 🙄

The tables below show a few typical examples for each group along with any rogue weirdos.

Group 1

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
lítaleitlitumlitinn
bíðabeiðbiðumbeðinn

Group 2

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
bjóðabauðbuðumboðinn
fljúgaflaugflugumfloginn
súpasaupsupumsopinn

Group 3

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
dettadattduttumdottinn
vinnavannvunnum🦄 unninn
finnafannfundum🦄 fundinn

Group 4

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
skeraskarskárumskorinn
stelastalstálumstolinn

Group 5

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
gefagafgáfumgefinn
getagatgátum🦄 getað
sitjasatsátumsetinn
sjásáum🦄 séður

Group 6

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
farafórfórumfarinn
takatóktókumtekinn
standastóðstóðum🦄 staðinn
deyjadóum🦄 dáinn
hlæjahlóhlógum🦄 hleg
sláslóslógum🦄 sleginn

Group 7

Infinitive1st p. past sing.1st p. past plu.Past participle
grátagrétgrétumgrátinn
hlaupahljóphlupumhlaupinn
fékkfengum🦄 fenginn

n-insertion

Past participles formed from strong verbs get the nasal consonant n inserted between the stem and ending in certain inflectional forms, unless their stem ends in a vowel. These forms are:

  • any form where the ending starts with a or u, and
  • the masculine nominative plural (-ir) form.

These are the same forms that get dental insertion in group 3 weak verbs. If the stem already ends in n, as in unninn, then no extra n is inserted.

SingularPlural
MasculineFeminineNeuterMasculineFeminineNeuter
Nom.beðinnbeðinbeðiðbeðnirbeðnarbeðin
Acc.beðnabeðna
Dat.beðnumbeðinnibeðnubeðnum
Gen.beðinsbeðinnarbeðinsbeðinna
note

Note that if the stem ends in f or g, as in gefinn or sleginn, then the pronunciation of will change to /p/ or /k/ respectively before n (gefinngefnir, sleginnslegnir.)