Sagnir í nútíð
Present tense: the six verb families
You don't have to learn every Icelandic verb from scratch. Most verbs belong to a family, and every verb in a family changes in the same way. Learn the family once and you know all of its verbs.
Look at the þú form
The quickest way to tell the families apart is the þú (you) form. Its ending shows which family the verb is in. The r / s verbs are the one exception: for those, look at hann, which has no ending at all. Tap a family to jump to it.
Which family is it in?
Type a verb in Icelandic or English. You'll see its family and all six forms.
Patterns that apply everywhere
The families differ in the singular (ég, þú, hann). The plural is nearly the same for all of them, so you only need to learn it once.
The plural is (almost) always the same
The þeir form is usually the dictionary form itself: þau borða, þau drekka, þau fara. Only vera breaks this (við erum, þið eruð, þau eru).
An a in the stem becomes ö before -um
If the stem has an a, it becomes ö when the ending is -um. This happens in every family.
tala → við tölum
taka → við tökum
hafa → við höfum
Only the við form changes. The þið form keeps its a: þið talið, þið takið.
Hidden j and v
Verbs that end in -ja or -va drop the j or v in the singular. It comes back before -um and -a.
segja → ég segi, þú segir … við segjum
skilja → ég skil … við skiljum, þið skiljið
Before -ið the j stays only where you can hear it. After g, k or æ / ey the letter already carries the j-sound, so the j is not written: þið segið, þið þekkið, þið hlæið.
The vowel swap
Many -ur verbs, short verbs and r/s verbs change their vowel in ég, þú and hann. The plural keeps the original vowel.
Which family?
You get a verb. Pick its family. The answer shows the þú form and explains why.
A suggested order
Learn one family at a time, starting with the most regular. A ✓ means the verb already has its own lesson page. Tip: ég vil, ég þarf, ég get and ég hef are worth learning as set phrases from the first week, before you reach their families.
All verb forms were checked against BÍN, Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum). The overview of present-tense verb classes follows standard descriptions of Icelandic grammar, such as Wikipedia: Icelandic grammar. The family names and grouping on this page are Íslenska saman's own teaching arrangement. To check any verb yourself, search it on BÍN and open Sagnbeyging → Nútíð.