The -st ending: reciprocal, self-acting and lexicalised verbs, and the pairs to learn together.
I can arrange to meet somebody and say that something happened by itself (Við hittumst klukkan sex).
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
Við hittumst á Mokka klukkan fimm.
We are meeting at Mokka at five.
Hurðin opnaðist í rokinu.
The door came open in the gale.
Okkur tókst að komast yfir heiðina fyrir myrkur.
We managed to get over the moor before dark.
Fjallið kallast Kirkjufell og er myndað oftar en flest önnur fjöll.
The mountain is called Kirkjufell and is photographed more than most.
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
Icelandic can add -st to a verb and change what the verb means. The ending grew out of the reflexive sik (today sig), which is why the meanings all circle around the subject.
| Notkun | Dæmi | Merking |
|---|---|---|
| Each other | hittast, sjást, kyssast | meet / see / kiss each other |
| Something happens by itself | opnast, lokast, breytast | open, close, change (of itself) |
| New meaning of its own | komast, takast, ferðast, óttast | get there, succeed, travel, fear |
The endings collapse in the singular - one form covers all three persons:
| Persóna | kallast (be called) | hittast (meet) |
|---|---|---|
| ég / þú / hann | kallast | hittist (e.g. hópurinn hittist) |
| við | köllumst | hittumst |
| þið | kallist | hittist |
| þeir | kallast | hittast |
The past adds the ordinary past ending before -st: kallaðist, ferðaðist, þau hittust. Compare present þau hittast with past þau hittust.
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A2 an
ÜbungsaufgabenAssuming every reflexive-looking verb has an -st partner: to study is læra, not *lærast. - Adding -st on top of a reflexive pronoun: either hittast or hitta hvor annan, never *hittast hvor annan. - Using the plain verb where the -st one is needed: Hurðin opnaðist, not *Hurðin opnaði. - Forgetting that komast and takast are not just reflexive versions of koma and taka but separate words.
Við hittumst á Mokka klukkan fimm.
We are meeting at Mokka at five.
hittast is reciprocal, so no object is needed. Kaffi Mokka on Skólavörðustígur has been serving the same waffles since 1958.
Hurðin opnaðist í rokinu.
The door came open in the gale.
opnast, not opna: nobody opened it. Rok is a proper Icelandic wind, not a breeze.
Okkur tókst að komast yfir heiðina fyrir myrkur.
We managed to get over the moor before dark.
Two -st verbs at once: takast (succeed) with a dative experiencer, and komast (get somewhere with effort).
Fjallið kallast Kirkjufell og er myndað oftar en flest önnur fjöll.
The mountain is called Kirkjufell and is photographed more than most.
kallast = be called - used of things, places and terms. A person heitir, not kallast: Hann heitir Jón.
Þau sjást sjaldan síðan þau fluttu norður.
They rarely see each other since they moved north.
sjást is the reciprocal of sjá.
Im Kurs üben
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A2 an