GETiä

Getið is an Icelandic past passive participle of the verb geta, meaning “to be able.” In modern Icelandic it functions as an adjective or participial form and is used to express capability, feasibility, or potential in various constructions. The form getið is the neuter singular past passive participle, and like other participles it inflects to agree with the noun it modifies in gender and number.

Etymology and form

Getið derives from geta, a common verb meaning “to be able.” As a past passive participle, it appears in adjectival or participial use, incorporating Icelandic’s participle system rather than standing alone as a finite verb. Its value as an adjective is to denote ability or feasibility of the action described by the accompanying verb in infinitive.

Usage and register

Getið is most often encountered in formal, literary, or technical Icelandic rather than everyday speech. It commonly appears in constructions that convey that something is possible or attainable, or that someone is capable of performing an action. Because it is a participial form, getið can modify nouns directly or participate in larger verbal phrases, adapting to language style and syntactic context.

Relationship to other forms

As a participle, getið coexists with other inflected forms of geta and with the broader Icelandic participle system. The exact inflection varies with gender and number, and speakers adapt the form to fit the grammatical role within a sentence, mirroring the behavior of other past passive participles in Icelandic.

See also

geta (to be able), Icelandic participles, Icelandic grammar

Note: This article provides a concise overview. For detailed usage and exact inflectional forms across genders and numbers, consult an Icelandic dictionary or grammar resource.