Present tense

Usage

The present tense🇮🇸 nútíð, or more precisely the simple present, is used to talk about something:

• ⬇️ that is happening now (although the present continuous is often used for this – start there if you’re a beginner);
• ⭕️ that describes a state or condition;
• ♻️ that happens repeatedly, such as a habit or recurring event; or
• ⏳ that will happen in the future.

For example:

Ég skil!
Húsið stendur á gatnamótum Hverfisgötu og Frakkastígs.
Pabbi fer alltaf í sund á laugardögum.
Nýi iPhone-síminn kemur út í næstu viku.

Something happening now

You’ve most probably come across the present continuous in Icelandic. This is where you use vera + að + infinitive to talk about something that’s happening right now:

Þór er að prjóna trefil.
Hvað ertu að gera?

However, you can also use the simple present for this:

Þór prjónar trefil.
Hvað gerirðu?

The distinction here is that the present continuous places more emphasis on the fact that the event is taking place right now. The second sentence from each example above illustrates this well:

• Hvað ertu að gera? “What are you doing (right now)?”
• Hvað gerirðu? “What do you do (for work?)”

State or condition

Verbs that describe a state or condition – as opposed to an action – often cannot be used with the present continuous. Sentences such as these are incorrect or not generally accepted:

🚫 Kötturinn er að liggja í sófanum.
🚫 Gummi litli er að sofa í vöggunni.
❓ Ég er ekki að búa í Reykjavík.

Instead, we must use the simple present:

Kötturinn liggur í sófanum.
Gummi litli sefur í vöggunni.
Ég bý ekki í Reykjavík.

For verbs like liggja, sitja, sofa and standa, we have the option of using a present participle:

Sjúklingurinn á ekki að vera í skóm, hvort sem hann er sitjandi eða standandi.

Repeated events and habits

When an event happens repeatedly, for example a festival that takes place every year or a routine you stick to every day, the simple present is required:

Þrúður fer alltaf í Bónus á föstudögum.
Klukkan slær tólf tvisvar á dag.

Future events

Icelandic has no future tense – just present and past. To talk about the future, you can use a number of different constructions. One of them is the simple present along with a time phrase (see Future for other constructions):

Við förum til Spánar í næstu viku.
Sindri fær lyklana afhenta á morgun.
Katla gýs ekki á næstunni.

Formation

Weak verbs

There are three groups of weak verbs, each forming their present tense in different ways. Note that only the singular endings differ between groups, the plural endings are the same across each group:

	Person		Group 1 að mála		Group 2 að keyra	Group 3 að velja
Singular	1st	ég	mála	tala	keyri	vel
	2nd	þú	málar	talar	keyrir	velur
	3rd	hann hún hán það	málar	talar	keyrir	velur
Plural	1st	við	málum	tölum	keyrum	veljum
	2nd	þið	málið	talið	keyrið	veljið
	3rd	þeir þær þau	mála	tala	keyra	velja

note

Many verbs in group 3 end in ‑ja in the infinitive (flytja, telja, velja). In the singular forms, this j is dropped (ég vel, þú velur …) but is kept in the plural (við veljum, þið veljið and so on).

Verbs in other groups that end in ‑ja in the infinitive keep the j in all forms, for example byrja (ég byrja, þú byrjar and so on).

U-shift

In the first person plural (við tölum, við störum), there is the possibility of a U-shift caused by the ending ‑um. See U-shift for rules.

Strong verbs

There are seven groups of strong verbs in Icelandic – however knowing which group a verb belongs to isn’t necessary for forming the present tense – the same rule applies to all groups:

Singular

1. Find the stem of the verb by removing -a from the infinitive. For example, draga → drag
2. Apply I-shift to the vowel in the stem. For example, drag → dreg
3. For the first person, that’s it! 😄
   For the second and third person, there are four possible sets of endings:

   	If the stem ends in a…
   	vowel		-r		-s		other consonant
   1st person	fæ	dey	fer	sver	kýs	frýs	dreg	sýð
   2nd person	fær	deyr	ferð	sverð	kýst	frýst	dregur	sýður
   3rd person	fær	deyr	fer	sver	kýs	frýs	dregur	sýður

note

If the infinitive ends in -ja, remove the j as well (deyja → dey). If the infinitive doesn’t end in -a, for example fá, then there’s nothing to remove!

Plural

Use the same set of endings as for weak verbs. There’s no I-shift, but there is the possibility of a ⚠️ U-shift (for example, draga → við drögum).

note

There’s a handful of strong verbs ending in -va in the infinitive (sökkva, höggva). In the singular forms, this v is dropped (ég sekk, þú sekkur …) but is kept in the plural (við sökkvum, þið sökkvið and so on).