Questions & Answers about Ég býð þér kaffi.
Because the verb bjóða “to offer/invite” takes the recipient in the dative case: the pattern is bjóða e-m e-ð (“offer someone something”). The 2nd person singular pronoun declines like this:
- nominative: þú (subject)
- accusative: þig (direct object)
- dative: þér (indirect object = “to/for you”)
- genitive: þín In this sentence the recipient is “you,” so we use the dative: þér.
No. Icelandic typically expresses “to/for someone” with the dative case alone, without a preposition, when the verb requires it. With bjóða, the recipient is dative: bjóða þér.
- til þín means “to your place/toward you” (movement/goal).
- fyrir þig means “for you” in the sense “on your behalf/for your benefit,” not the recipient of an offer. So here, just use þér.
Icelandic has no indefinite article (“a/an”). Bare nouns can be indefinite by default. If you need a definite meaning, Icelandic uses a suffixed article:
- kaffi = “coffee” (indefinite/mass)
- kaffið = “the coffee” (definite, specific coffee already known in context)