líður

Líður is an Icelandic verb that means to feel or to endure, and it is also used to express that time or a situation is progressing. In everyday language it most commonly appears in constructions that describe how someone feels or how things are going. A typical use is with the dative personal pronoun to indicate who experiences the sensation, as in mér líður vel (“I feel well”) or mér líður illa (“I feel bad”). It can also describe the passage of time, with the subject often being time or a situation, as in tíminn líður hratt (“time passes quickly”).

Etymology and relation to related languages: líða is inherited from Old Norse and is cognate with Danish lide and Swedish lida, words that carry senses of feeling, suffering, or enduring. In Icelandic, the verb has both a sensory sense (feeling, well-being) and a temporal or experiential sense (time or events advancing). The form líður (present) is the common third-person singular, used with a dative experiencer, and it appears in questions such as hvernig líður þér? (“How are you doing?”).

Grammar notes: líða behaves like a impersonal or experiencer-focused verb in many clauses. The experiencer is marked with a dative pronoun (mér, þér, honum, okkur, yður), while the syntactic subject is often a time expression or the situation itself, as in tíminn líður or líður mér vel. It can combine with adverbs or adjectives to describe the quality of the feeling (vel, illa, rótt, etc.).

Usage overview: líða covers a broad range of common everyday expressions related to mood, comfort, and the passage of time. It is a staple verb for describing personal state and the flow of events in Icelandic.