drekka ("to drink") is a strong Class-3 verb, and it is the perfect specimen of the class because its three stem vowels are textbook-clean: i in the present (drekk), a in the past singular (drakk), and u in the past plural and supine (drukkum, drukkið). This i–a–u series runs through a whole family of common verbs — finna "find," binda "bind," vinna "work/win" — so once drekka is in your bones you can hear how the rest of Class 3 moves. The verb is also a good early test of your pronunciation: that double kk is preaspirated, sounding roughly like "dreh-ka."
Conjugation
Class: strong, class 3 (ablaut i–a–u). Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef drukkið "I have drunk." Governs: the accusative (drekka kaffi, drekka vatnið).
| Principal parts | |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | að drekka |
| Preterite 1sg | drakk |
| Preterite 3pl | drukku |
| Supine | drukkið |
| Person | Present (nútíð) | Past (þátíð) |
|---|---|---|
| ég | drekk | drakk |
| þú | drekkur | drakkst |
| hann / hún / það | drekkur | drakk |
| við | drekkum | drukkum |
| þið | drekkið | drukkuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | drekka | drukku |
| Person | Present subjunctive | Past subjunctive |
|---|---|---|
| ég | drekki | drykki |
| þú | drekkir | drykkir |
| hann / hún / það | drekki | drykki |
| við | drekkum | drykkjum |
| þið | drekkið | drykkjuð |
| þeir / þær / þau | drekki | drykkju |
| Non-finite & imperative | |
|---|---|
| Imperative (þú) | drekktu / drekk |
| Imperative (þið) | drekkið! |
| Supine | drukkið |
| Past participle (m/f/n) | drukkinn / drukkin / drukkið |
| Middle voice (miðmynd) | drekkast — "be drunk / get drunk (of a beverage)" |
The i–a–u vowel series
The whole verb hangs on three vowels. The present singular has i (written e before the double consonant: drekk, drekkur); the past singular has a (drakk); and the past plural plus the supine have u (drukkum, drukkuð, drukku, drukkið). There is no u-umlaut puzzle to worry about here — the u in drukkum is the genuine ablaut vowel of the class, not an a forced to ö. Because the stem vowel is i / u rather than a short a, drekka never umlauts to ö anywhere in its paradigm.
Ég drekk yfirleitt bara vatn með matnum.
I usually just drink water with my meal.
Hún drakk kaffið sitt og fór út.
She drank her coffee and went out.
Við drukkum allt of mikið í gærkvöldi.
We drank way too much last night.
drekka + accusative
drekka governs the accusative, like almost every plain transitive verb. The thing you drink is a direct object: drekka kaffi (acc.), drekka bjórinn (acc. with the article). English has no case to show this, so the only trap is forgetting that the object's article and adjectives must take accusative endings.
Drekkur þú mjólk?
Do you drink milk?
Ég hef aldrei drukkið svona gott te.
I've never drunk such good tea. (perfect: hafa + supine drukkið)
The preaspirated kk
The double kk is not a long "k" — it is preaspirated, which means a little puff of breath (an [h]-like sound) slips in before the closure. So drekka comes out closer to "DREH-ka" and drukkum like "DRUH-kum." This is one of the signature sounds of Icelandic, and it falls on every form of this verb that keeps the double consonant. English has no preaspiration at all — our double letters in "letter" or "happy" are just single consonants — so the instinct is to lengthen the k instead of putting breath in front of it. Train the puff early; it's what makes drekka sound native.
Þau drukku skál fyrir afmælisbarninu.
They drank a toast to the birthday boy/girl.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ég drakkaði of mikið kaffi.
Incorrect — drekka is strong, not weak; the past is drakk, never a -aði form.
✅ Ég drakk of mikið kaffi.
I drank too much coffee.
❌ Við drakkum saman í gær.
Incorrect — the past plural takes the u-vowel: drukkum, not drakkum.
✅ Við drukkum saman í gær.
We drank together yesterday.
❌ Ég hef drakk þrjá bjóra.
Incorrect — the perfect needs the supine drukkið, not the past tense drakk.
✅ Ég hef drukkið þrjá bjóra.
I have drunk three beers.
❌ Hún var drukkið á djamminu.
Incorrect — 'drunk' (intoxicated) is the agreeing participle drukkin (f.), not the supine drukkið.
✅ Hún var drukkin á djamminu.
She was drunk at the party.
Key Takeaways
- drekka – drakk – drukku – drukkið — strong Class 3, the model i–a–u verb.
- Present singular has i (drekk, drekkur); past singular a (drakk); past plural and supine u (drukkum, drukkið).
- No u-umlaut: the stem vowel is i / u, so nothing ever becomes ö.
- Perfect uses hafa + drukkið: ég hef drukkið.
- Watch the overlap: supine drukkið (for the perfect) vs. the agreeing participle drukkinn / drukkin = "drunk, intoxicated."
- drekka takes an accusative object, and the double kk is preaspirated ("DREH-ka").
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- Preaspiration: hp, ht, hk and pp, tt, kkA2 — Icelandic's signature sound: a puff of breath that comes BEFORE the stops written pp, tt, kk (and clusters like pn, tn, kn) — so epli is [ˈɛhplɪ] and nótt is [nouht]. The h falls before the stop, the mirror image of English aspiration, and it is one of the rarest features in the world's languages.
- borða (to eat)A1 — Full conjugation of the regular weak Class-1 verb borða (borða / borðaði / borðuðu / borðað), the plural forms borðum/borðuðum/borðuðu (no a→ö umlaut, since the stem vowel is o), the bare-object pattern borða mat, and vera að borða (eating now) vs vera búinn að borða (done eating).