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
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:
| Infinitive | Past tense singular | Past participle | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | mála teikna borða | málaði teiknaði borðaði | málaður teiknaður borðaður |
| Group 2 | keyra meiða benda | keyrði meiddi benti | keyrður meiddur bentur |
Group 3
In weak group 3, there are two possible endings:
| -inn | flýja hrynja | flúði hrundi | flúinn hruninn |
|---|---|---|---|
| ð/d/t + ‑ur | spyrja 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 flúði → flú):
| Stem ending | Past participle ending | Infinitive | Past tense stem | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vowel or f, l, m, n, p | -inn | flýja 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 + -ur | gleðja leggja lykja spyrja flytja | glað- lag- luk- spur- flut- | gladdur lagður luktur spurður fluttur |
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.
- lapinn
- talinn
- varinn
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | lapinn | lapin | lapið | laptir | laptar | lapin |
| Acc. | lapta | lapta | ||||
| Dat. | löptum | lapinni | löptu | löptum | ||
| Gen. | lapins | lapinnar | lapins | lapinna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | talinn | talin | talið | taldir | taldar | talin |
| Acc. | talda | talda | ||||
| Dat. | töldum | talinni | töldu | töldum | ||
| Gen. | talins | talinnar | talins | talinna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | varinn | varin | varið | varðir | varðar | varin |
| Acc. | varða | varða | ||||
| Dat. | vörðum | varinni | vörðum | vörðum | ||
| Gen. | varins | varinnar | varins | varinna | ||
Exceptions
The following verbs form their past participles like group 1 weak verbs, despite being in group 2 or 3:
| duga | dugað |
| lifa | lifað |
| þegja | þagað |
| þora | þorað |
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
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| líta | leit | litum | litinn |
| bíða | beið | biðum | beðinn |
Group 2
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| bjóða | bauð | buðum | boðinn |
| fljúga | flaug | flugum | floginn |
| súpa | saup | supum | sopinn |
Group 3
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| detta | datt | duttum | dottinn |
| vinna | vann | vunnum | 🦄 unninn |
| finna | fann | fundum | 🦄 fundinn |
Group 4
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| skera | skar | skárum | skorinn |
| stela | stal | stálum | stolinn |
Group 5
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| gefa | gaf | gáfum | gefinn |
| geta | gat | gátum | 🦄 getað |
| sitja | sat | sátum | setinn |
| sjá | sá | sáum | 🦄 séður |
Group 6
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| fara | fór | fórum | farinn |
| taka | tók | tókum | tekinn |
| standa | stóð | stóðum | 🦄 staðinn |
| deyja | dó | dóum | 🦄 dáinn |
| hlæja | hló | hlógum | 🦄 hlegið |
| slá | sló | slógum | 🦄 sleginn |
Group 7
| Infinitive | 1st p. past sing. | 1st p. past plu. | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| gráta | grét | grétum | grátinn |
| hlaupa | hljóp | hlupum | hlaupinn |
| fá | fékk | fengum | 🦄 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.
- beðinn
- dottinn
- gefinn
- sleginn
- unninn
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | beðinn | beðin | beðið | beðnir | beðnar | beðin |
| Acc. | beðna | beðna | ||||
| Dat. | beðnum | beðinni | beðnu | beðnum | ||
| Gen. | beðins | beðinnar | beðins | beðinna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | dottinn | dottin | dottið | dottnir | dottnar | dottin |
| Acc. | dottna | dottna | ||||
| Dat. | dottnum | dottinni | dottnu | dottnum | ||
| Gen. | dottins | dottinnar | dottins | dotinna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | gefinn | gefin | gefið | gefnir | gefnar | gefin |
| Acc. | gefna | gefna | ||||
| Dat. | gefnum | gefinni | gefnu | gefnum | ||
| Gen. | gefins | gefinnar | gefins | gefinna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | sleginn | slegin | slegið | slegnir | slegnar | slegin |
| Acc. | slegna | slegna | ||||
| Dat. | slegnum | sleginni | slegnu | slegnum | ||
| Gen. | slegins | sleginnar | slegins | sleginna | ||
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nom. | unninn | unnin | unnið | unnir | unnar | unnin |
| Acc. | unna | unna | ||||
| Dat. | unnum | unninni | unnu | unnum | ||
| Gen. | unnins | unninnar | unnins | unninna | ||
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 (gefinn – gefnir, sleginn – slegnir.)