drekka (A1) | Icelandic Grammar

drekka ("to drink") is the textbook example of a strong verb because its vowel marches through the most famous Germanic pattern of all: i – a – u. You drink (drekk), you drank (drakk), we have drunk (drukkið). If you can recite drekk, drakk, drukkum, drukkið, you hold the key to a whole class of verbs — and you can order a coffee while you're at it.

Conjugation

Class: strong, class 3 (nasal ablaut i–a–u: drekk / drakk / drukku). The stem vowel is e in the present singular, a in the past singular, and u in the past plural and supine. Auxiliary: hafa — ég hef drukkið "I have drunk."

Principal parts
Infinitive	að drekka
3sg present	drekkur
3sg past	drakk
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)	drekk! / drekktu (with attached pronoun)
Imperative (þið)	drekkið!
Supine	drukkið
Past participle (m/f/n)	drukkinn / drukkin / drukkið
Middle voice (miðmynd)	drekkast (rare; mostly impersonal "be drunk/drinkable")

💡

The i–a–u ladder is the thing to memorise: drekk (I drink), drakk (I drank), drukkum (we drank), drukkið (drunk). The double k stays throughout, and the vowel does all the work. One trap: the past participle drukkinn also means "drunk" in the intoxicated sense — hann er drukkinn means "he's drunk," not "he has been drunk."

Everyday present: drekk / drekkur

By far the most useful form at A1 is the present. drekka takes a plain accusative object — the thing you drink — with no preposition. Note that ég gets the bare stem drekk, while þú and hann/hún/það both get drekkur.

Ég drekk kaffi á hverjum morgni, annars vakna ég ekki.

I drink coffee every morning, otherwise I don't wake up.

Drekkur þú te eða kaffi?

Do you drink tea or coffee?

Barnið drekkur bara vatn, ekki gos.

The child only drinks water, not soda.

fá sér að drekka — "get oneself something to drink"

The single most natural way to offer or ask for a drink is fá sér (literally "get oneself"), with að drekka "to drink." This is a fixed, high-frequency chunk — learn it whole.

Viltu fá þér eitthvað að drekka?

Would you like something to drink?

Ég ætla að fá mér kaldan bjór.

I'm going to have (get myself) a cold beer.

Past tense and the perfect

Við drukkum kakó og horfðum á myndina.

We drank cocoa and watched the film.

Ég drakk allt of mikið kaffi í gær.

I drank way too much coffee yesterday.

Hefur þú einhvern tíma drukkið íslenskt lindarvatn?

Have you ever drunk Icelandic spring water?

Common Mistakes

❌ Ég drekkur kaffi.

Incorrect — with ég the form is the bare stem drekk.

✅ Ég drekk kaffi.

I drink coffee.

❌ Við drekkum kaffi í gær.

Incorrect — that's the present; the past plural is drukkum.

✅ Við drukkum kaffi í gær.

We drank coffee yesterday.

❌ Ég hef drakk.

Incorrect — the perfect uses the supine drukkið, not the past drakk.

✅ Ég hef drukkið.

I have drunk.

❌ Ég drekk af vatni.

Incorrect — drekka takes a bare accusative, no preposition.

✅ Ég drekk vatn.

I drink water.

Key Takeaways

drekka / drekk / drakk / drukkið — the model i–a–u strong verb.
Present: ég drekk (bare stem) but þú/hann drekkur; past plural takes u: drukkum, drukkuð, drukku.
drekka takes a plain accusative — drekk vatn, no preposition.
Use fá sér (eitthvað) að drekka to offer or ask for a drink.
The participle drukkinn also means "drunk (intoxicated)" — hann er drukkinn.

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