# Icelandic: Get/Má



## ShakeyX

Simple question, what are the differences and different situations that one would commonly use MÁ instead of GET and vice versa.


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## Alxmrphi

The verb *mega* is used in situations involving asking/seeking permission.
The verb *geta *is used about possibility, ability (i.e. 'I can / am able to...')

Ég má ekki fara - Someone has forbidden me.
Ég get ekki farið - It's a decision I have arrived at.


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## ShakeyX

So might it be possible to say if asked to do something... ég má gera það, en ég get ekki að því að ég er ekki með bíl... or something?


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## Alxmrphi

ShakeyX said:


> So might it be possible to say if asked to do something... ég má gera það, en ég get ekki að því að ég er ekki með bíl... or something?


Do you have an example of what you mean? It's difficult to determine if it's possible without a context to frame it next to.


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## ShakeyX

Just trying to compare to the english if one would say something along the lines of "I'd love to but I just can't" or "She (allowed) me to do it but I still (can't)"

would the two words in brackets then be forms of mega and geta, respectively.


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## Alxmrphi

Again, we don't have a context so it's kinda pointless to just take the phrase and make a judgement about that.
Let's try one and throw the ball over to the other speakers to see their opinions.

Let's say there is a group of guy co-workers who like to go bowling on a Tuesday and then one day one of them tells the others his wife has told him he can't go, so they make fun of him for a little while and then one day she says he can go, but he has such more on his plate with his job that he can't take the evening off to go and play. When the guys ask him again, they try to taunt him a little bit to imply he's under the thumb etc. and say:

Co-worker: .... Máttu ekki koma með?
Guy: .............Ég _*má*_ gera það, en ég á svo margt_ a_ð lesa að ég_ get _það ekki.

I'm not great with dealing with the semantics of different verbs in specific contexts but it seems okay to me.
Others?


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## Silver_Biscuit

Alxmrphi said:


> Co-worker: .... Máttu ekki koma með?
> Guy: .............Ég _*má*_ gera það, en ég á svo margt_ a_ð lesa að ég_ get _það ekki.



Seems fine to me. For an example of the opposite imagine a child has a friend round and they're in the garden. Visitor child asks resident child if he can climb the tree in the garden - the answer is that he _can_ climb the tree, but his mother has forbidden him.

Barn A: Geturðu klifið þetta tré?
Barn B: Ég get það alveg, en mamma segir að ég má það ekki.

The distinction is pretty clear; as Alex explained _mega_ is used for permission, being allowed to do something and _geta_ is for being able to do something, it is possible for you to do something. Just to further complicate matters cool, there's also _kunna_ which means knowing how to do something, having that skill/talent/ability. It can be trickier to avoid mixing up _geta_ and _kunna_ - the distinction between _geta_ and _mega_ is a lot more simple.

Ég má ekki synda - I am not allowed to swim
Ég get ekki synt - For some reason, I am unable to swim (although this reason is not that I have not learnt to swim)
Ég kann ekki að synda - I do not know how to swim

Edit: An aside - none of these verbs denote anything about _wanting_ to do anything, so I'm not sure where your "I'd love to but I can't" is coming from. They deal solely with the possibility of doing things.


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## Silver_Biscuit

It's good practice by the way to include context and specifics for what you are asking about, otherwise your question risks being too broad and difficult to answer - there's no way that anybody could ever give you all the situations where _mega_ and _geta_ would commonly be used. On a related note, it's also better to ask about the infinitives (mega and geta) rather than the first person singular present tense conjugations (má and get), since really you are asking about the whole verb and as a way to avoid potential confusion (_að má_ is a completely different verb, meaning _to delete_).


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## Silver_Biscuit

ShakeyX said:


> Just trying to compare to the english if one would say something along the lines of "I'd love to but I just can't" or "She (allowed) me to do it but I still (can't)"
> 
> would the two words in brackets then be forms of mega and geta, respectively.



Sorry for multiple answers in a row, keep seeing something else I want to mention. You seem to be confused here about _mega_ - it does not mean _to allow_, it means _to be allowed_. If you wanted to say "She allowed me to do it", you'd need a completely different verb (Hún leyfði mér að gera það). "Ég má gera það" means "SOMEONE has allowed ME to do it", commonly expressed in English as "I am allowed to do it".


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## Alxmrphi

> On a related note, it's also better to ask about the infinitives (mega and geta) rather than the first person singular present tense conjugations (má and get)


For the first two minutes I was reading it as 'má' and English 'get' and I had no idea what was going on at first until I realised it was from 'geta'. 
So, that is good advice to follow! Also, for searches in the future people usually search by infinitives but this will all come naturally over time.


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## ShakeyX

Sincere apologies  I always type a train of thought, need to structure it a little better. But now I do understand all.

One thing just out of curiosity (as i've seen it happen only once or twice;

Barn B: Ég get það alveg, en mamma segir að ég má það ekki.

Why is it má það ekki and not má ekki (gera) það.... basically why is the ekki not after the verb as it normally is? Any particular reason?


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## Alxmrphi

> Sincere apologies  I always type a train of thought, need to structure it a little better.


My posts used to be the same because I just had mush in my head and couldn't think of a way to organise my question so it will just be oozing babble. 


> Why is it má það ekki and not má ekki (gera) það.... basically why is the ekki not after the verb as it normally is? Any particular reason?



When you have just a finite verb and an object together (either by itself or with negation or stuff like_ alltaf _or _aldrei_) then the normal position is for (non-pronoun) objects to come after these. However, with pronouns, when you're not putting any stress on them, you have to shift these to immediately after the main verb in the sentence. If we say we're talking about a book (bók - feminine) and whether Jón has read it or not, you can see from the examples what is possible or not:

(a) Jón hefur aldrei lesið hana
(b) Jón hefur hana aldrei lesið
(c) Jón *las* aldrei hana
(d) Jón *las* hana aldrei

Notice that in the first two examples, you have a compound tense (like the present perfect in English) where it is the _verb have_ + _past participle_. Since there is a past participle that comes after, this means you get normal word order. As I said before, this object shift only happens with one finite verb form (so the preterite, basically).
So, by (a) and (b) you can see it's the normal order. In (c) and (d) however, we do have the standard past tense and in (c) you can observe that it's not possible to keep 'hana' in the same position as in (a) which would be after _aldrei_. Changing it so there is a tense with only one finite verb, unless there is a big stress and intonation on the object, it has to move to be immediately after the verb (so, going behind aldrei/ekki/alltaf or whatever).

So, it is possible to say_ Jón las aldrei HANA_, but that is a marked case because for some reason you're really stressing that pronoun. Normal rules, however, are as above.

Therefore:

Ég má ekki gera það.
= the verbal complex is basically *má* (ekki) *gera *(not just one finite verb) so the object follows the verb and only the non-finite stuff follows negation.

Ég má ekki það (unstressed).
= you have the compulsory environment for object shift.

Ég má *það *ekki það.
..........^---<---|


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