Þau elska að ferðast saman og skoða ný lönd.

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Breakdown of Þau elska að ferðast saman og skoða ný lönd.

• saman: together
• nýr: new
• og: and

Questions & Answers about Þau elska að ferðast saman og skoða ný lönd.

What exactly does Þau mean, and when do I use it instead of other Icelandic words for they?

Þau is a 3rd‑person plural pronoun meaning they.
Icelandic has three different words for they, depending on gender:

• þeir – they (a group of men / masculine)
• þær – they (a group of women / feminine)
• þau – they (a mixed group, or a group whose genders you don’t want to specify; also used with some neuter words like börn “children” or hjón “married couple”)

So in this sentence, Þau is a neutral way to say they, often understood as a couple or group of people of mixed or unspecified gender.

How do you pronounce Þau?

Þau is pronounced approximately like “thœy” in one syllable:

• Þ / þ is like the th in thing (unvoiced, [θ]).
• au is a diphthong, usually pronounced [œy] – it starts a bit like the vowel in British “bird” or French “œuf”, then glides towards y in “yes”.

Putting it together, it’s roughly [θœy].

Why is it elska and not elskar in this sentence?