Ikke svikt meg.

not

Breakdown of Ikke svikt meg.

• meg: me
• svikte: to fail someone; give out

Questions & Answers about Ikke svikt meg.

Why is there no subject here? Where is you?

This is an imperative sentence, so the subject is normally omitted.

• Ikke svikt meg. = Don’t fail me / Don’t let me down / Don’t betray me.
• The understood subject is you, just like in English commands:
  • Come here.
  • Don’t go.

So Norwegian does not need to say du here.

Why does the sentence start with ikke?

Because this is a negative command.

In Norwegian, a very common way to make a negative imperative is:

ikke + imperative

So:

• Ikke svikt meg. = Don’t fail me.
• Ikke gå. = Don’t go.
• Ikke glem det. = Don’t forget it.

This is the normal, natural word order in everyday Norwegian.

Why is it svikt and not svikte?