Today, I’d like to cover a few auxiliary verbs that I consider to be indispensable tools to have in your Icelandic repertoire. All of the verbs in this entry symbolize, in some way, a knowledge of something. They range from ability (hæfni) to aptitude (hæfileiki) to knowledge (kunnátta) to facts (staðreynd) to mere familiarity or acquaintance (þekking).

First though, an auxiliary verb is essentially a verb that adds function to the sentence (or clause) in which it appears. In the title of this blog post, I know how to do it, the auxiliary verb is “to know.” And, of course, if you have something that’s auxiliary, it means there has to be something that’s primary. The point of the sentence I know how to do it is “to do,” so that’s your main verb; “to know” allows the sentence to express a complete idea.

So the auxiliary verb is a helper, and is also called a helping verb (Icelandic: “hjálparsögn” or “hjálparsagnorð”). The main verb in Icelandic is called the “aðalsögn.”

Geta – to be able to, can

Geta is almost always accompanied by a second verb, just like in English (unless you’re simply saying “I can”). The “main verb” that would be used with geta is in the neuter past participle form (e.g., gera  = gert, lesa = lesið, fara = farið, tala = talað). The neuter past participle form is listed in the kennimynd in the dictionary (detailed below). Ég get gert það, means that you can do it. Letidýrið getur talað means “the sloth can talk.” Það getur líka flogið! (It can also fly!). Ég get hjálpað þér ef þú vilt (I can help you, if you want). Often, if you know the verb type (weak/strong, and which class of weak/strong), you can work out what the participle might be.

Amelie Lachapelle
Courtesy of Pexler.com

Kunna –To know how to do something.

Kunna is used in two ways – it can be used both as a helping verb and as a main verb. If it’s a helping verb, it’s just like saying “I know how to ride a bicycle,” (ég kann að hjóla) or “I know how to cook” (ég kann að elda) without using the word “how”. If it’s a main verb, it means “I know Icelandic,” (ég kann íslensku) “I know the poem by heart” (Ég kann ljóðið utan að). As you can see, its “main verb” is in the infinitive, not the past participle, form. The noun kunnátta – meaning knowledge, skill – is the noun form of the verb kunna.   

Vita – to know a fact

Vita is used when you know something for a fact. In general, an entire clause or sentence will follow after it, or simply the word “það.” There’s no uncertainty here.

Þekkja – to know of/to know a person

Þekkja is used when you´re talking about people (I know her) and when you’re talking about something that you have knowledge of because you’ve seen or heard it. The predicate is always in accusative when you use this verb. Here are a few examples.

*This last example is mediopassive voice. It’s used, in this case, to apply simultaneity – mutual knowledge of each other. A common example is við sjáumst, or við heyrumst, roughly equivalent to “see you” or “we’ll see each other,” and “we’ll be in touch,” “talk soon.”

Kannast við

Síðast en ekki síst – last,  but not least – we have kannast við. To start off, kannast við always takes the accusative. It has a similiar meaning to þekkja, to know of, but is slightly weaker.  For example, if you´re talking about a guy named Pétur who you recently met, but aren´t close to (an acquiantance), you’d say:

Or, imagine you’re at your friend’s house and they’ve found a scarf. They turn to you to ask if you’ve ever seen this lost scarf before in your life. The conversation might go like this:

Those are just a few examples of auxiliary verbs that imply a degree of knowledge. This isn’t an exhaustive list of helping verbs, and we haven’t even covered the use of “hafa,” but it’ll get you started. Here’s this week’s video to help you practice listening. Let me know how it goes! (Hint: it’s a pun on rekinn – to be fired and drekinn – the dragon).

Photo by Emmy Geraghty