{"id":1748,"date":"2013-04-29T13:33:41","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T13:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/islenzka.net\/?p=1748"},"modified":"2013-04-29T13:33:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T13:33:41","slug":"i-command-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/i-command-you\/","title":{"rendered":"I Command You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"exclamation\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just need to tell someone what to do, and in those cases knowing how to form the imperative in Icelandic is, well, imperative. Many phrases you learn when starting out are imperative ones, like <\/p>\n

Gakktu \u00ed b\u00e6inn!<\/strong> – Come in!
\nGj\u00f6r\u00f0u svo vel!<\/strong> – Go right ahead!
\nHlusta\u00f0u og endurtaktu!<\/strong> – Listen and repeat!<\/p>\n

In general, the singular imperative is formed by adding the 2nd person pronoun \u00fe\u00fa<\/strong> (in the form \u00f0u<\/strong>) to the stem or infinitive of the verb. In the plural you simply use the 2nd person present form of the verb and add \u00fei\u00f0<\/strong>. The tricky part is that in the singular, \u00f0u<\/strong> can become du<\/strong>, ddu<\/strong> or tu<\/strong> depending on the ending of the verb stem.<\/p>\n

bo\u00f0\/h\u00e1ttur (m) (-h\u00e1ttar,-h\u00e6ttir)<\/strong> – imperative<\/p>\n

SINGULAR IMPERATIVE<\/span><\/h4>\n

Regular -ar<\/strong> verbs keep the infinitive and add -\u00f0u<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 tala<\/th>\ntala<\/td>\ntala\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 bor\u00f0a<\/th>\nbor\u00f0a<\/td>\nbor\u00f0a\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

In the other cases, the infinitive ending -a<\/strong> is removed (if the verb ends in -ja<\/strong> or -va<\/strong>, the j<\/strong> and v<\/strong> are removed as well) and the imperative is formed as follows:<\/p>\n

Verbs with stems ending in r<\/strong>, f<\/strong> or g<\/strong> add -\u00f0u<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 fara<\/th>\nfar<\/span><\/td>\nfar\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 gefa<\/th>\ngef<\/span><\/td>\ngef\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 segja<\/th>\nseg<\/span><\/td>\nseg\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Verbs with stems ending in l<\/strong>, m<\/strong> or n(g)<\/strong> add -du<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 velja<\/th>\nvel<\/span><\/td>\nveldu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 koma<\/th>\nkom<\/span><\/td>\nkomdu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 finna<\/th>\nfinn<\/span><\/td>\nfinndu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Verbs with stems ending in \u00f0<\/strong> add -ddu<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 b\u00ed\u00f0a<\/th>\nb\u00ed\u00f0<\/span><\/td>\nb\u00edddu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 kl\u00e6\u00f0a<\/th>\nkl\u00e6\u00f0<\/span><\/td>\nkl\u00e6ddu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Verbs with stems ending in p<\/strong>, t<\/strong>, s<\/strong> or k<\/strong> add -tu<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 kaupa<\/th>\nkaup<\/span><\/td>\nkauptu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 l\u00e1ta<\/th>\nl\u00e1t<\/span><\/td>\nl\u00e1ttu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 lesa<\/th>\nles<\/span><\/td>\nlestu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 s\u00e6kja<\/th>\ns\u00e6k<\/span><\/td>\ns\u00e6ktu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

And what list would be complete without some exceptions (irregulars)? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nstem<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 ganga<\/th>\ngang<\/td>\ngakktu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 standa<\/th>\nstand<\/td>\nstattu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 \u00feegja<\/th>\n\u00feeg<\/td>\n\u00feegi\u00f0u!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 vera<\/th>\nver<\/td>\nvertu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 setjast<\/th>\nset<\/td>\nsestu!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

PLURAL IMPERATIVE<\/span><\/h4>\n

Compared with the singular, the plural imperative is much simpler, as it is just the 2nd person plural form of the verb + \u00fei\u00f0<\/strong>, which is often left out or shortened to just -i<\/strong> in speech:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 koma<\/th>\nkomi\u00f0 \u00fei\u00f0! (komi\u00f0i)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 bor\u00f0a<\/th>\nbor\u00f0i\u00f0 \u00fei\u00f0! (bor\u00f0i\u00f0i)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 gera<\/th>\ngeri\u00f0 \u00fei\u00f0! (geri\u00f0i)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

One irregular is a\u00f0 vera<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
infinitive<\/th>\nimperative<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
a\u00f0 vera<\/th>\nveri\u00f0 \u00fei\u00f0! (veri\u00f0i)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

So feel free to boss people around in Icelandic now \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you just need to tell someone what to do, and in those cases knowing how to form the imperative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1748"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1748\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islenzka.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}