Breyta

Breyta is an Icelandic verb meaning to change or alter. It is a versatile verb used to describe changes in objects, states, plans, or processes, and it can be employed in both transitive and intransitive constructions. The infinitive form is breyta, and it appears in a wide range of everyday and formal contexts.

In Icelandic, breyta participates in standard verb inflection, with the past participle breytt, which is used in perfect and passive constructions. The related noun breyting denotes a change, modification, or alteration, while the adjective breytt describes something that has been changed or is altered. Together, breyta, breyting, and breytt form a common trio in discussions of modification, revision, and transformation.

Breyta occurs across many registers, from casual speech to journalism and technical writing. It appears in expressions such as breyta þessu (to change this) or breyta stefnu (to change course), and it often features in discussions of adjustments to plans, systems, or policies. In linguistic analysis, breyta serves as an example of how Icelandic morphosyntactic inflection marks tense, aspect, and agreement through verb forms.

The term Breyta may also be encountered as a proper noun in certain contexts, such as the name of a project, product, or organization. In those cases, capitalization signals a name rather than the ordinary verb form. See also: breyting (change), breytt (changed), breyta (infinitive).