A1 · Sagnir · Verbs

Að eiga — To own / have

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Að eiga means “to own” or “to have” — things you own, and family too: Ég á hjól. I have a bicycle. Ég á systur. I have a sister. In the present tense it has five forms — á, átt, eigum, eigið, eiga — and the one you need depends on who has it.

  • 5forms
  • 11pronouns
  • 100chart drills
  • 100sentences

The five forms

The chart

How to read it

  • There are 11 pronoun rows but only five different forms.
  • Hán refers to one person and takes á, even though English singular “they” takes “have.”
  • Þú is one person and takes átt; þið is more than one person and takes eigið.
  • Þau, þær and þeir all take eiga.
  • Pronouns can stand for things, following the noun’s grammatical gender — not only for people.

Choosing the form

Good to know

Meaning

Að eiga means to own or have, including family. Ég á systur = I have a sister — a relationship, not ownership of a person.

The object

The thing you have takes its object form: bíll → bíl, hundur → hund, köttur → kött, systir → systur. Some look unchanged: hjól, bók. The object is always given — only the verb is tested.

Subject, not object

Choose the verb from who has it. Ég á bækur still uses á, though bækur is plural. Börnin eiga bók uses eiga, though bók is singular.

Questions

Put the verb first: Átt þú hjól? Eiga þau bíl? English “do / does” has no separate word here.

Negatives

Ekki follows the verb: Ég á ekki bíl. I do not have a car. The verb form does not change.

Not the same as hafa

This page covers owning and family in the present tense only. Eiga and hafa do not swap in every English “have” expression.