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Þeir drekka mjólk.

Þeir drekka mjólk.
They drink milk.
FromLesson 9inHardcore Icelandic
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Breakdown of Þeir drekka mjólk.

drekka
to drink
mjólkin
the milk
þeir
they

Questions & Answers about Þeir drekka mjólk.

What does Þeir mean in this sentence and when do I use it?
Þeir is the third-person plural masculine pronoun meaning they. It refers to a group of males or a mixed-gender group in Icelandic. For an all-female group you’d use Þær, and for a neuter group or neuter nouns you’d use Þau.
What form is the verb drekka here?

This drekka is the present-tense, third-person plural form of drekka (to drink). In Icelandic the plural endings in the present tense are: • við drekka (we drink)
• þið drekkið (you pl. drink)
• þeir/þær/þau drekka (they drink)
So both við and þeir share the ending -a.

Why does drekka look the same for við and þeir?
Icelandic verbs don’t use a separate personal pronoun to show person. Instead, the ending changes. The ending -a marks first-person plural and third-person plural alike. Context (the pronoun) tells you who is doing the action.
What case is mjólk in, and does its form change?

Here mjólk is in the accusative singular (direct object) but for this feminine noun the nominative, accusative, and dative are all mjólk. Its full singular declension is:
• Nominative mjólk
• Accusative mjólk
• Dative mjólk
• Genitive mjólkar

Why is there no article before mjólk?
Icelandic drops the indefinite article with uncountable or mass nouns when you mean “some/any.” So Þeir drekka mjólk simply means They drink (some) milk. If you wanted the milk, you’d use the definite suffix: mjólkin.
How do you pronounce Þeir drekka mjólk?

A rough English transcription is THAIR DREK-ka MYOLEK. In IPA roughly Þ is [θ] as in “thin.”
• d + r is [tr].
• ó is [ou], like English “oh.”
• Double consonants (kk) are held slightly longer.

Is the word order always Subject-Verb-Object in Icelandic?
Yes, the unmarked/main clause order is SVO: Þeir drekka mjólk. Icelandic is a V2 language, so you can front an element (like an adverb or object) and still keep the finite verb in second position: e.g. Mjólk drekka þeir (for emphasis or poetic style), but everyday speech sticks to SVO.
How do I say “They do not drink milk” in Icelandic?

Place the negator ekki immediately after the finite verb:
Þeir drekka ekki mjólk.

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