Drikke | Danish Grammar

Drikke ("to drink") is the perfect anchor verb for the strong i–a–u class — and the easiest one to remember, because it matches English exactly: drikke / drak / drukket lines up with drink / drank / drunk. The same vowel ladder runs through finde / fandt / fundet, synge / sang / sunget and springe / sprang / sprunget. If you can hear the English pattern, you already know how this whole class works. Two common phrases extend it: drikke ud ("drink up / finish your drink") and drikke sig fuld ("get drunk").

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) drikke	to drink
Present	drikker	drink(s)
Past	drak	drank
Past participle	drukket	drunk
Imperative	drik!	drink!

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Drikke is your model for the strong i–a–u ladder: present i (drikker), past a (drak), participle u (drukket) — exactly mirroring English drink / drank / drunk. The double consonant doubles in the participle: drukket, sunget stays single — each verb keeps its own spelling, but the vowel steps are identical. See Strong past tense overview.

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No agreement, as always: drikker is the whole present — jeg drikker, du drikker, hun drikker, vi drikker, de drikker — and drak is the whole past, for every subject.

Present: drikker

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	drikker	jeg drikker te om morgenen
du	drikker	du drikker for lidt vand
han / hun	drikker	hun drikker sin kaffe sort
vi	drikker	vi drikker et glas vin til maden
de	drikker	de drikker aldrig alkohol

Jeg drikker altid en kop te, før jeg går i seng.

I always drink a cup of tea before I go to bed.

Du drikker alt for lidt vand i løbet af dagen.

You drink far too little water during the day.

In Danish, drikke with no object ("drink" in the sense of drinking alcohol regularly) carries the same hint as in English: han drikker ("he drinks") often implies a problem, not just a glass of water. With an explicit object, the verb is completely neutral — jeg drikker kaffe is as ordinary as it sounds. This is a useful reminder that the presence or absence of an object can shift the meaning of a Danish verb, just as it does in English.

Why is drikke worth singling out among the strong verbs? Because it is the friendliest doorway into a class that otherwise feels random. English speakers already carry the i–a–u ladder in their heads — sing / sang / sung, ring / rang / rung, drink / drank / drunk. Danish reuses the very same vowel steps for the cognate verbs synge / sang / sunget, springe / sprang / sprunget and drikke / drak / drukket. Anchor the pattern on drikke, and the others fall into place by analogy rather than by brute memorisation.

Past: drak

The past is the strong drak — short, with the a vowel, just like English "drank."

Vi drak kaffe og snakkede til langt ud på natten.

We drank coffee and chatted until late into the night.

Hun drak sin kakao, mens hun kiggede ud på regnen.

She drank her cocoa while looking out at the rain.

Present perfect: har drukket

The perfect uses har plus the participle drukket, with the u vowel and the doubled k.

Har du drukket nok vand i dag?

Have you drunk enough water today?

Jeg har allerede drukket tre kopper kaffe — det er nok.

I've already drunk three cups of coffee — that's enough.

Everyday phrases: drikke ud, drikke sig fuld

Two phrases extend drikke into common conversation. Drikke ud means "drink up / finish your drink" — the ud signals emptying the glass. Drikke sig fuld ("drink oneself full") is the ordinary, neutral way to say "get drunk"; it uses a reflexive pronoun that changes with the subject (drikke sig / mig / dig fuld).

Drik nu ud, vi skal videre til næste sted.

Drink up now, we're moving on to the next place.

Han drak sig fuld til festen og fortrød det dagen efter. (informal)

He got drunk at the party and regretted it the next day.

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In drikke sig fuld, the reflexive sig agrees with the subject: jeg drak mig fuld, du drak dig fuld, de drak sig fulde (with plural fulde). The adjective fuld here means "drunk," not "full" — for "full up" after a meal Danes say mæt.

Imperative: drik!

Drik din mælk, så bliver du stor og stærk!

Drink your milk, then you'll grow big and strong!

Common collocations and fixed expressions

drikke ud — to drink up, finish one's drink
drikke sig fuld — to get drunk (informal)
drikke en skål — to drink a toast
drikke kaffe / te / vand — the everyday objects
skåle — to clink glasses, toast (related noun: en skål)

Lad os drikke en skål for brudeparret!

Let's drink a toast to the newlyweds!

A natural exchange

— Hvad drak I til middagen? — Vi drak rødvin, men Mikkel drikker ikke, så han fik vand. — Klogt. Sidste gang drak han sig fuld og faldt i søvn på sofaen.

— What did you drink with dinner? — We drank red wine, but Mikkel doesn't drink, so he had water. — Smart. Last time he got drunk and fell asleep on the sofa.

You can see all three principal parts at work in the reply: drak (past), drikker (present, here in the "drinks alcohol" sense), and drak sig fuld (the reflexive past). The i–a–u ladder in one short scene.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg drikkede en kop kaffe.

Incorrect — drikke is strong; the past is drak, not a regular -ede form.

✅ Jeg drak en kop kaffe.

I drank a cup of coffee.

❌ Har du drak nok vand?

Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle drukket, not the past drak.

✅ Har du drukket nok vand?

Have you drunk enough water?

❌ Jeg har drikket tre kopper kaffe.

Wrong participle — it's drukket (i–a–u), not drikket.

✅ Jeg har drukket tre kopper kaffe.

I've drunk three cups of coffee.

❌ Han drak sig fuld af mad.

Wrong adjective — fuld here means 'drunk'; for 'full after eating' use mæt.

✅ Han blev mæt af maden.

He got full from the food.

❌ Drik ude, vi skal videre.

Wrong particle — 'drink up' is drikke ud, not drikke ude ('drink outside').

✅ Drik ud, vi skal videre.

Drink up, we're moving on.

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