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Questions & Answers about Þú lærir hratt.
Why is Þú used here, and can you omit it?
Þú is the second‐person singular pronoun (“you”). Icelandic verb endings already indicate person and number, so you can technically drop Þú if context is clear, but in practice speakers almost always include it for clarity or emphasis. Without it, lærir hratt would still mean “you learn fast,” but feels stilted.
What tense and person is lærir?
lærir is the present indicative, second‐person singular form of læra (“to learn”). In English we often say “you are learning,” but Icelandic uses the simple present for both “you learn” and “you are learning.”
How does lærir fit into the full conjugation of læra in the present?
Here’s læra (“to learn”) in the present indicative:
• Ég læri – I learn
• Þú lærir – You learn
• Hann/hún/það lærir – He/she/it learns
• Við lærum – We learn
• þið lærið – You (pl.) learn
• Þeir/þær/þau læra – They learn
What part of speech is hratt, and why not hraður?
hratt is an adverb meaning “quickly” or “fast.” hraður is an adjective (“fast” in the sense of “a fast runner”). To turn hraður into an adverb, you take its neuter singular form (hratt), which is identical to the adverb here.
Could you use a different word than hratt for “quickly”?
Yes, a common synonym is fljótt. So Þú lærir fljótt also means “you learn quickly.” hratt and fljótt are largely interchangeable, though fljótt feels a bit lighter and more conversational.
What is the standard word order, and could you move hratt elsewhere?
The neutral order is Subject–Verb–Adverb (Þú lærir hratt). You can emphasize the adverb by fronting it: Hratt lærir þú, but that sounds poetic or archaic. As a rule: adverbs of manner (like hratt) usually follow the verb.
How do you pronounce Þú lærir hratt?
• Þú: [θuː] – th in think + long u as in food.
• lærir: [ˈlaiːrɪr] – æ like eye, rolled r, short i.
• hratt: [r̥hatː] – voiceless r (like whispered r), h, a as in father, and long t.
How would you say “you will learn fast” in Icelandic?
Use the future construction with mun/munt:
“Þú munt læra hratt.”
Here munt is the future auxiliary for second person singular, and læra reverts to its infinitive.