Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.

However, when you use a family word like mamma as if it were a name (your specific Mom), many speakers write it with a capital letter: Mamma, Pabbi. That’s what’s happening in Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.

So:

mamma = mom (general word, dictionary form, usually lowercase)
Mamma = Mom (my mom, used like a proper name, often capitalized in personal writing)

Why is there no word for the in front of Mamma? Why isn’t it The mom loves both coffee and tea in Icelandic?

Icelandic doesn’t use a separate word for the before nouns the way English does. Instead, it normally adds a definite ending to the noun:

mamma = a mom / mom (indefinite)
mamman = the mom (definite, with suffix -n)

But when you talk about your own mom as a unique person, you usually don’t say mamman. You just say Mamma, used like a name, and that already implies my mom or Mom in English.

So Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te is best understood as Mom loves both coffee and tea, not The mom loves…

Why does Mamma come first, then elskar, then bæði kaffi og te? Is the word order like English?

Yes, this sentence has the basic Icelandic word order:

Subject – Verb – Object(s)
Mamma (subject) elskar (verb) bæði kaffi og te (objects)

That’s very similar to English Mom loves both coffee and tea.

Icelandic allows more flexibility with word order than English, but the neutral order in a simple statement is like this: subject – verb – rest. So:

Mamma elskar kaffi. – Mom loves coffee.
Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te. – Mom loves both coffee and tea.

What exactly does bæði … og mean, and where does it go in the sentence?

bæði … og is a correlative pair meaning both … and.

bæði is placed right before the first item.
og joins the first and second items.

In your sentence:

bæði kaffi og te = both coffee and tea

Structure:

Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.
- bæði before kaffi (first thing she loves)
- og before te (second thing she loves)

You can use it with other words too:

Ég tala bæði ensku og íslensku. – I speak both English and Icelandic.
Hún er bæði klár og skemmtileg. – She is both smart and fun.

Could I say Mamma elskar kaffi líka instead of bæði kaffi og te?

That would mean something slightly different.

bæði kaffi og te = both coffee and tea (two things as a pair)
líka = also / too

So:

Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.
Mom loves two things: coffee and tea.
Mamma elskar kaffi líka.
Mom loves coffee too (in addition to something else already mentioned or understood).

If you want the exact meaning “both coffee and tea”, you should use bæði … og, not líka.

What form of the verb is elskar, and what is the infinitive?

The infinitive is að elska = to love.

elskar is present tense, 3rd person singular:

ég elska – I love
þú elskar – you (singular) love
hann / hún / það elskar – he / she / it loves
við elskum – we love
þið elskið – you (plural) love
þeir / þær / þau elska – they love

Since Mamma is a she, you use the same form as hún:

Mamma elskar … – Mom loves …

Why don’t kaffi and te have any article like a or the?

Icelandic normally doesn’t use an indefinite article (a / an) at all, and the definite article (the) is attached as a suffix.

Base forms (no article):

kaffi = coffee
te = tea

Definite forms (with the):

kaffið = the coffee
teið = the tea

In Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te, we’re talking about coffee and tea in general, not some specific coffee or tea, so the bare forms kaffi and te are correct. This matches English fairly closely: Mom loves coffee and tea (no the here either).

Are kaffi and te singular or plural here? And what gender are they?

In this sentence they behave like singular mass nouns (uncountable) and they are both neuter.

kaffi – neuter noun, usually treated as a mass noun (like water in English). You normally don’t pluralize it in everyday speech.
te – also used as a mass noun, neuter as well.

So bæði kaffi og te is both (some) coffee and (some) tea, not both coffees and teas.

Are kaffi and te in a particular grammatical case here? I don’t see any endings changing.

Yes, they are in the accusative case as direct objects of the verb elska.

Verbs like elska typically take their object in the accusative.
For many neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative singular look exactly the same.

So:

Nominative: kaffi, te
Accusative: kaffi, te (same forms)

That’s why you don’t see a visible case ending, even though grammatically they are accusative.

What’s the difference between mamma and móðir?

Both refer to a mother, but they differ in style and register:

mamma – informal, like mom / mum / mommy. This is what children and most adults use in everyday speech.
móðir – formal or literary, like mother. You see it in official contexts, written forms, or more serious/poetic language.

So:

Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te. – Very natural everyday Icelandic.
Móðir elskar bæði kaffi og te. – Grammatically fine, but sounds formal or story‑like, not like normal casual speech about your own mom.

Could the sentence be Mamman elskar bæði kaffi og te? Would that be wrong?

It’s grammatically correct, but the meaning shifts:

Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.
= Mom (my mom / Mom as a name) loves both coffee and tea.
Mamman elskar bæði kaffi og te.
= The mom loves both coffee and tea.
This sounds like you’re talking about some specific mother in a story or situation, not necessarily your own mom as “Mom”.

When you mean your own Mom in a personal way, you normally say Mamma, not Mamman.

How would this sentence change if I replace Mamma with I or we?

You only change the subject and the verb form to match:

Ég elska bæði kaffi og te. – I love both coffee and tea.
- ég
  - elska (1st person singular)
Við elskum bæði kaffi og te. – We love both coffee and tea.
- við
  - elskum (1st person plural)

The phrase bæði kaffi og te stays the same.

How do you pronounce the words in Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te?

Approximate English‑based guide (not phonetic IPA, just a rough idea):

Mamma – roughly “MAH-mah”
Both m’s pronounced; a like in father.
elskar – roughly “EHLS-kar”
el like “ell”, skar like “scar” but with a clearer r.
bæði – roughly “BYE-thi”
- æ like “eye”
- ð is a soft th as in “this” (not as strong as thing).
kaffi – roughly “KAF-fi”
- a like “half”
- double ff is a strong f sound.
og – roughly “og” or “ok”, depending on dialect; often sounds close to “ok” in fast speech.
te – roughly “teh”
A short e, not a long “tay”.

Can bæði refer to the person instead of the things loved, like Mom both loves coffee and drinks tea?

Not with this exact structure. bæði … og normally pairs two parallel elements (two nouns, two adjectives, two verbs, etc.) of the same type.

Your sentence:

Mamma elskar bæði kaffi og te.
– bæði joins two nouns: kaffi and te.

If you want to pair two verbs, you would do it like this:

Mamma bæði elskar kaffi og drekkur te.
– This is possible but sounds marked or a bit literary/unnatural in everyday speech.

More natural would be:

Mamma elskar kaffi og drekkur te. – Mom loves coffee and drinks tea.

So in practice, for normal spoken Icelandic, use bæði … og mainly to join similar elements (two nouns, two adjectives, two short verb phrases) and keep it simple like in your original sentence.