Ég drekk bæði vatn og mjólk.

I drink both water and milk.

Breakdown of Ég drekk bæði vatn og mjólk.

• ég: I
• drekka: to drink
• vatn: the water
• og: and
• mjólk: the milk
• bæði: both

Questions & Answers about Ég drekk bæði vatn og mjólk.

What does the structure bæði … og do, and where does it go?

It’s a correlative that means both … and. Place bæði immediately before the first coordinated item and og right before the second:

• Ég drekk bæði vatn og mjólk. = I drink both water and milk. The structure itself doesn’t affect case; the coordinated items take whatever case the sentence requires.

Why isn’t there a word for “a” before vatn and mjólk?

Icelandic has no indefinite article (no word for “a” or “an”). Bare nouns often translate to English with “a” or “some.” Definite meaning is shown with a suffix (see next Q).

How would I say “the water” and “the milk” in this exact sentence?

Use the definite suffixes and keep the objects in accusative:

• Ég drekk bæði vatnið og mjólkina. Here vatnið (neuter) and mjólkina (feminine) are the definite accusative forms.

What case are vatn and mjólk, and why don’t they look changed?

They’re in the accusative as direct objects of drekk. For these nouns, the nominative and accusative singular look the same:

• vatn (nom/acc), gen. vatns, dat. vatni
• mjólk (nom/acc/dat), gen. mjólkur

Why is it drekk and not drekka?

Drekka is the infinitive “to drink.” Drekk is the 1st person singular present.

• Present: ég drekk, þú drekkur, hann/hún/það drekkur, við drekkum, þið drekkið, þeir/þær/þau drekka
• Past (for reference): ég drakk, við drukkum

How do I say “I am drinking both water and milk (right now)”?

Icelandic often uses the simple present for current actions, so Ég drekk bæði vatn og mjólk can mean “I’m drinking …” from context. To emphasize ongoing action, you can say:

• Ég er að drekka bæði vatn og mjólk.

What’s the basic word order here? Could something else come first?

Main clauses are verb-second (V2). The finite verb comes second in the clause. If you front something else, the verb still stays in second position:

• Í dag drekk ég bæði vatn og mjólk. (Today I drink…)
• Stundum drekk ég bæði vatn og mjólk. (Sometimes I drink…)

How do you pronounce each word roughly?

Very rough English-like cues (bold shows the word):

• Ég ≈ “yeh” (often with a soft, barely audible g sound)
• drekk ≈ “drekh” (final k with a little puff of air; rolled r)
• bæði ≈ “BYE-thih” (æ like “eye”, ð like the th in “this”)
• vatn ≈ “VAH-tn” (you’ll hear a little puff before tn; single a like in “father”)
• og ≈ “oh” (g is often not pronounced)
• mjólk ≈ “MYOHLK” (mj like “myo-”; ó like “oh”; final k with a puff) Stress is on the first syllable of each content word.

Is the g in Ég and og pronounced?

• Ég: the g is typically a soft fricative [ɣ] or very weak; many learners just say “yeh,” which is fine in casual speech.
• og: often pronounced just “oh.” In careful speech or before vowels you may hear a soft [ɣ]-like sound.

Does bæði agree with the nouns in gender/number here?

Not in this correlative use. In bæði … og, bæði is invariable. When “both” is an adjective before a plural noun, it does agree:

• báðir (masc. pl.), báðar (fem. pl.), bæði (neut. pl.) Example: Ég drakk báðar flöskurnar. (I drank both bottles.)

How do I say “I drink neither water nor milk”?

Use the negative correlative hvorki … né:

• Ég drekk hvorki vatn né mjólk.

Can I drop the subject pronoun Ég?

No. Icelandic is not a pro‑drop language. You generally need to state the subject pronoun: Ég drekk…

How do I ask “Do you drink both water and milk?” and answer briefly?

• Question (colloquial contraction): Drekkurðu bæði vatn og mjólk?
  • Full form: Drekkur þú bæði vatn og mjólk?
• Short answers:
  • Já, ég drekk bæði.
  • Nei, ég drekk hvorki vatn né mjólk. / Nei, ég drekk bara vatn.

Can I use bæði with more than two items?

It naturally pairs two items. With three or more, speakers often just list with og and add líka (also):

• Ég drekk vatn, mjólk og líka kaffi. Some do say bæði … og … og … in casual speech, but it’s not stylistically ideal.

What are the genders of vatn and mjólk, and do they matter here?

• vatn is neuter; mjólk is feminine. This matters for definite endings (e.g., vatnið, mjólkina) and for agreement when relevant, but here (indefinite accusative objects) their forms happen to look like the nominative.

Where does negation go, and what’s the difference in meaning?

Negation (ekki) typically follows the verb (and subject if the subject has moved after V2):

• Ég drekk ekki bæði vatn og mjólk. = I don’t drink both water and milk (maybe I drink one of them).
• Ég drekk hvorki vatn né mjólk. = I drink neither water nor milk (I drink neither).