Questions & Answers about Þú ert velkominn hér.
A careful, learner-friendly approximation is:
- Þú ≈ thoo (like th in thin, plus a long oo sound)
- ert ≈ ert (with a tapped/trilled Icelandic r, not an English “r”)
- velkominn ≈ VEL-ko-minn (stress on VEL-; the nn is held longer)
- hér ≈ hyehr (often with a “palatal” h sound before é, something like hy)
Main tips:
- Stress is almost always on the first syllable: VELkominn, HÉR.
- Þ is always the unvoiced th sound (thin), never the th in this.
- Þú = you (2nd person singular, nominative subject)
- ert = are (present tense of að vera = to be, 2nd person singular)
- velkominn = welcome (an adjective/predicate adjective describing þú)
- hér = here (adverb of place)
So the structure is literally: You are welcome here.
Because Icelandic conjugates að vera (to be) by person/number. Present tense:
- ég er = I am
- þú ert = you are (singular)
- hann/hún/það er = he/she/it is
- við erum = we are
- þið eruð = you are (plural)
- þeir/þær/þau eru = they are
So with þú, you need ert.
Velkominn is an adjective and it agrees with the person being welcomed (gender + number, and here also case).
Common forms (nominative):
- Masculine singular: velkominn
- Feminine singular: velkomin
- Neuter singular: velkomið
Plural:
- Masculine plural: velkomnir
- Feminine plural: velkomnar
- Neuter plural: velkomin
So:
- To a man: Þú ert velkominn hér.
- To a woman: Þú ert velkomin hér.
- To a group of men/mixed group (formally): Þið eruð velkomnir hér.
- To a group of women: Þið eruð velkomnar hér.
(In practice, you’ll also see Velkomin used pretty broadly as a general “Welcome!”, but the agreement above is the grammatical system.)
After the verb að vera (to be), the complement is typically nominative because it describes/identifies the subject rather than being an object.
So:
- Þú (subject, nominative)
- velkominn (predicate adjective, nominative, agreeing with þú)
This is similar to English “It is I” (formally), though English mostly doesn’t show case agreement on adjectives the way Icelandic does.
Yes. Velkominn! / Velkomin! / Velkomið! is a very common standalone greeting meaning Welcome!
Adding Þú ert … hér makes it more explicit: You are welcome here.
It can be understood that way, but it’s not the most common everyday reply to takk (thanks). More idiomatic replies include:
- Ekkert að þakka. = Nothing to thank for.
- Gerðu svo vel. = (Here you go / You’re welcome)
- Það var ekkert. = It was nothing.
Þú ert velkominn is grammatical, but often feels more literal or context-dependent (and it still has to agree: velkomin/velkomið etc.).
Yes, word order can shift for emphasis. The neutral order here is:
- Þú ert velkominn hér. (You are welcome here.)
But you can front hér for emphasis (“here, specifically”):
- Hér ert þú velkominn.
That version sounds more contrastive: Here you’re welcome (maybe elsewhere you aren’t).
- hér = here (location: “in this place”)
- hingað = to here (movement toward here)
So:
- Þú ert velkominn hér. = You are welcome here (at this place).
- Velkominn hingað! = Welcome here! (as in “welcome to this place,” with an arriving/coming-to sense)
Icelandic usually keeps the subject pronoun in normal full sentences, so Þú ert … is standard.
However, in short replies, greetings, or when context is very clear, Icelandic can omit parts:
- Velkominn! (no pronoun, very common)
- In conversation you might also get shorter fragments, but full “pro-drop” like Spanish is not the general default in Icelandic.