Das Verb „vera“ (sein) im Präsens

Vera (to be) is the most frequent verb in Icelandic. English has three present forms (am, are, is); Icelandic has six, one for each person, though two of them are the same word.

Watch the shared form: er means both "am" and "is". The plural forms all start with er-, so learn them by their endings: -um for "we", -uð for "you", -u for "they".

What you use it for

• Where you are from: Ég er frá Akureyri. - I'm from Akureyri.
• Where something is: Við erum á Þingvöllum. - We're at Þingvellir.
• Describing: Húsið er stórt. - The house is big. The adjective agrees with the subject, so a man says Ég er þreyttur and a woman Ég er þreytt (I'm tired).
• Age: Ég er tuttugu ára. - I'm twenty. Ára means "of years", so leave out any word for "old".
• Weather: Það er kalt í dag. - It's cold today.

Two things English speakers miss

In speech, ert and þú fuse when the verb comes first: Hvar ertu? - Where are you? Ertu íslensk? - Are you Icelandic? You will see ertu written that way too.

The English "-ing" form has no direct match. To say what you are doing right now, Icelandic uses vera að + infinitive: Ég er að lesa. - I'm reading. Hún er að elda. - She's cooking.