Trinki is the neutral regular verb “to drink.” It can occur without an object when the activity is enough—Ĉu vi volas trinki?—or take a beverage as a direct object—trinki akvon. Measure phrases require special attention: in trinki glason da akvo, the measure word glason takes the accusative, but akvo after da does not.
The complete paradigm
The stem trink- takes the six ordinary verb endings without any irregularity. Its finite forms never change for person or number.
| Form | Core value | Typical translation |
|---|---|---|
| trinki | infinitive | to drink |
| trinkas | present | drink, drinks |
| trinkis | past | drank, have drunk |
| trinkos | future | will drink |
| trinkus | conditional | would drink |
| trinku | volitive | drink!, let … drink |
Mi trinkas teon matene kaj kafon post la tagmanĝo.
I drink tea in the morning and coffee after lunch.
Ĉu vi trinkis sufiĉe da akvo dum la marŝado?
Did you drink enough water during the hike?
Mi trinkus ion varman, se la kafejo ankoraŭ estus malfermita.
I would drink something hot if the café were still open.
Trinku malrapide; la teo estas ankoraŭ tre varma.
Drink slowly; the tea is still very hot.
The conditional trinkus is not a past form. The volitive trinku serves for a command, recommendation, or wish. A stated third-person subject is possible: La paciento trinku pli da akvo “The patient should drink more water.”
With and without a beverage object
When a beverage is expressed, it is the direct object and receives accusative marking where possible. Adjectives and nouns agree together.
Ni mendis lokan sukon, sed la infanoj trinkis nur malvarman akvon.
We ordered local juice, but the children drank only cold water.
Mi ne trinkas alkoholaĵojn kiam mi devas veturi.
I don’t drink alcoholic beverages when I have to drive.
Without an object, trinki can simply mean take a drink or consume liquid. In an appropriate social context, “Do you drink?” may invite an alcoholic beverage or ask about alcohol habits, but the verb itself is not alcohol-specific.
Ni haltu ĉe tiu fontano por trinki kaj plenigi la botelojn.
Let’s stop at that fountain to drink and fill the bottles.
Ĉu vi trinkas? — Jes, sed hodiaŭ mi preferas senalkoholan bieron.
Do you drink? — Yes, but today I prefer nonalcoholic beer.
Context supplies the omitted object. As with manĝi, optional omission does not create an irregular intransitive form: the same verb also freely takes a direct object. The direct objects page covers the case pattern.
Measure phrases: what takes -n
A countable measure noun can head the direct object. It receives -n, while the beverage after da remains unmarked.
Post la kurado mi trinkis du glasojn da akvo.
After the run I drank two glasses of water.
La kuracisto rekomendis, ke mi trinku almenaŭ du litrojn da akvo tage.
The doctor recommended that I drink at least two liters of water a day.
In these examples, glasojn and litrojn state how much was consumed and function as the heads of the object phrases. Da akvo identifies the measured substance. The noun governed by da never receives accusative -n.
An invariant quantity word such as iom, multe, malmulte, or sufiĉe cannot display accusative. The whole quantity phrase nevertheless functions as the object:
Bonvolu trinki iom da akvo antaŭ la sangokontrolo.
Please drink some water before the blood test.
Li trinkas tro multe da kafo kaj poste ne povas dormi.
He drinks too much coffee and then can’t sleep.
The distinction is structural, not optional spelling: du tasojn da teo, but iom da teo. See measures and price and da for the general patterns.
Da, el, and the container distinction
Glaso da akvo presents a glassful, a quantity or contents relationship. Trinki el glaso names the vessel from which liquid comes. These constructions answer different questions:
| Question | Construction | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| How much? | trinki glason da akvo | drink a glassful of water |
| From what? | trinki akvon el glaso | drink water from a glass |
| By what means? | trinki per pajlo | drink through/with a straw |
Ŝi trinkis glason da akvo kaj poste plenigis ĝin denove.
She drank a glass of water and then filled it again.
Ne trinku rekte el la botelo; estas puraj glasoj en la ŝranko.
Don’t drink directly from the bottle; there are clean glasses in the cupboard.
Post la operacio li povis trinki nur per pajlo.
After the operation he could drink only through a straw.
English “a glass of water” uses one broad of construction. Esperanto chooses da for contents or quantity and el for literal movement/source. De can mark origin or ownership in other noun phrases, but it is not the ordinary marker of a glassful.
Company, toasts, and alcohol
Use kun for companions: trinki kun amikoj. A conventional toast can use je with the honored person or desired outcome: Ni trinku je via sano! This je phrase does not name the beverage.
Vendrede ni trinkis kun malnovaj amikoj en trankvila drinkejo.
On Friday we had drinks with old friends in a quiet bar.
Ni trinku je la sano de la novgeedzoj!
Let’s drink to the health of the newlyweds!
The separate verb drinki means drink alcohol habitually or excessively. It carries a negative or disapproving implication and should not replace neutral trinki merely because the beverage contains alcohol. Li trinkis glason da vino ĉe la vespermanĝo is neutral; Li drinkis la tutan nokton portrays sustained drinking or drunken behavior. Drinki is standard vocabulary, not an (informal) spelling of trinki.
Li trinkas vinon nur okaze, sed lia frato kutimis drinki ĉiun semajnfinon.
He drinks wine only occasionally, but his brother used to drink heavily every weekend.
Participles and the word family
The active participles are trinkanta, trinkinta, trinkonta. Transitive uses license passive trinkata, trinkita, trinkota. The participial vowel locates the event relative to the reference point: -ant- ongoing, -int- prior, -ont- prospective.
La trinkota vino ankoraŭ malvarmiĝas en la fridujo.
The wine to be drunk is still chilling in the refrigerator.
Sur la tablo restis du duone trinkitaj tasoj da kafo.
Two half-drunk cups of coffee remained on the table.
Useful derivatives are transparent but not interchangeable:
| Word | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| trinkaĵo | a beverage; neutral |
| trinkakvo | drinking water, potable water |
| trinkejo | bar or drinking establishment; neutral |
| trinkebla | drinkable, fit or possible to drink |
| trinkigi | make or cause someone to drink, give a drink to |
| eltrinki | drink up, empty by drinking |
| ektrinki | begin to drink |
La akvo el tiu krano ne estas trinkebla sen filtrado.
The water from that tap isn’t drinkable without filtering.
Ŝi eltrinkis la teon antaŭ ol ĝi malvarmiĝis.
She drank up the tea before it got cold.
Trinkaĵo is a concrete drink; trinkado emphasizes the continuing activity. Trinkigi is causative. One standard frame makes the drinker its direct object: trinkigi la infanon. Another makes the beverage the direct object and marks the drinker with al: trinkigi teon al la infano. Do not express both roles as bare accusative objects.
La flegisto malrapide trinkigis la pacienton per pajlo.
The nurse slowly gave the patient a drink through a straw.
Frequency and register
Trinki is high-frequency and neutral in all its simple forms. Konsumi “consume” appears with beverages in (formal) medical, legal, statistical, and commercial writing, especially konsumi alkoholon, but it sounds abstract in ordinary offers. Drinki is semantically marked for excessive alcohol use, not formally restricted to slang. Je ies sano is a conventional toast suitable in ordinary social settings and ceremonial speeches.
Common Mistakes
Leaving the beverage object unmarked
❌ Mi trinkas forta kafo sen sukero.
Incorrect — the expressed beverage is a direct object.
✅ Mi trinkas fortan kafon sen sukero.
I drink strong coffee without sugar.
Using de for a quantity
❌ Ŝi trinkis glason de akvo.
Incorrect for a glassful — use da for contents or quantity.
✅ Ŝi trinkis glason da akvo.
She drank a glass of water.
Adding -n after da
❌ Ni trinkis du botelojn da akvon dum la vojaĝo.
Incorrect — the noun after da does not take accusative -n.
✅ Ni trinkis du botelojn da akvo dum la vojaĝo.
We drank two bottles of water during the trip.
Using de for the source container
❌ La infano trinkis de la botelo.
Incorrect for drinking from inside a container — use el.
✅ La infano trinkis el la botelo.
The child drank from the bottle.
Using drinki as the neutral verb
❌ Mi drinkas tason da teo ĉiumatene.
Wrong nuance — drinki suggests habitual or excessive alcohol consumption.
✅ Mi trinkas tason da teo ĉiumatene.
I drink a cup of tea every morning.
Key Takeaways
Use trinki neutrally with or without an expressed beverage object. In a measured object, mark the measure—du glasojn da akvo—and leave the noun after da unmarked. Use el for the container drunk from and per for an instrument such as a straw. Reserve drinki for habitual or excessive alcohol use, and recognize the productive family trinkaĵo, trinkakvo, trinkebla, trinkigi, eltrinki.
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- Direct ObjectsA1 — Learn which Esperanto verb complements are direct objects, how -n marks them, and how object marking remains stable when word order changes.
- Measures and PriceA2 — Mark bare measures of weight, size, value, and price with -n while distinguishing them from objects and prepositional phrases.
- DaA2 — Use da to connect a quantity or measure to the indefinite substance, people, or things that make up that quantity.
- ElA2 — Use el for movement from an interior, origin, material, components, and selection from a defined group.
- PerB1 — Use per for an instrument, means, method, channel, or intermediary through which an action is carried out.
- Manĝi: To EatB2 — Use manĝi with or without a food object, form meal verbs naturally, and handle food quantities correctly.