Breakdown of Kaffið er sterkt, en ég drekk það samt.
ég
I
vera
to be
drekka
to drink
það
it
en
but
kaffið
the coffee
sterkur
strong
samt
anyway
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Questions & Answers about Kaffið er sterkt, en ég drekk það samt.
What does the suffix -ið in kaffið indicate?
In Icelandic the definite article is a suffix on the noun, not a separate word. Neuter singular nouns take -ið. So kaffi (coffee) becomes kaffið, meaning “the coffee.” (By contrast, masculine takes -inn, feminine -in, and plural -in or -nir depending on gender.)
Why is the adjective sterkt used instead of sterkur?
Adjectives must agree in gender, number and case with the noun they describe. The base form sterkur is masculine singular nominative. For neuter singular (which kaffi is), you use sterkt. (Feminine would be sterk, and plural sterkir.)
What does en mean here, and why isn’t og used?
en is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but” or “yet,” used to contrast two clauses. og means “and” and simply adds items or actions together without implying contrast. Since the sentence contrasts the coffee’s strength with the action of drinking it, en is correct.
Why is there a comma before en?
When two independent clauses are joined by en in Icelandic, you place a comma before en—just like you would in English before “but.” Here it separates “Kaffið er sterkt” from “ég drekk það samt.”
Why is the pronoun það used for “it” instead of hann or hún?
Pronouns agree in gender with the nouns they refer to. kaffi is neuter, so the neuter pronoun það is used. hann is masculine (“he/it” for masculine nouns), hún is feminine (“she/it” for feminine nouns).
Can you drop ég in ég drekk það samt?
No. Unlike some languages (e.g. Spanish), Icelandic normally requires subject pronouns. You must keep ég for first person singular, so omitting it would sound ungrammatical.
Why is the verb drekk so short, with no ending like -i or -ð?
In Icelandic present tense the first person singular has no ending. The paradigm for drekk(a) is:
• ég drekk (I drink)
• þú drekkr (you drink)
• hann/hún drekkur (he/she drinks)
So ég drekk is the correct form for “I drink.”
What does samt mean, and why does it appear at the end?
samt is an adverb meaning “still,” “anyway,” or “nonetheless.” It expresses concession—“even so.” In Icelandic it often comes after the verb or object it modifies, so ég drekk það samt literally “I drink it still.”
Why is er placed after kaffið and before sterkt?
Icelandic main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in the second position. Here the subject kaffið is first, so the verb er (“is”) must be second, with the predicate sterkt third.