Nej, jag vill hellre dricka te ikväll.

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Breakdown of Nej, jag vill hellre dricka te ikväll.

• dricka: to drink
• vilja: to want
• ikväll: tonight

Questions & Answers about Nej, jag vill hellre dricka te ikväll.

Why is there a comma after Nej?

In Swedish it’s common to write a comma after a short interjection like Nej, Ja, Jo, especially when it introduces the rest of the sentence: Nej, jag vill …
In informal writing you may also see it without the comma, but the comma is very standard.

Does vill mean want or would like here? Is it polite enough?

vill literally means want, but in everyday Swedish it’s often used where English would say would like, especially in simple, friendly contexts (ordering, choosing, suggesting).
If you want to sound more explicitly polite/soft, Swedish often uses skulle vilja (or skulle gärna vilja): Nej, jag skulle vilja dricka te ikväll.

Why is dricka in the infinitive form?

Because vill is a modal/helping verb. After modals like vill, kan, måste, får, Swedish uses the bare infinitive (no att):

• Jag vill dricka (not jag vill att dricka)

Where does hellre go in the sentence, and why is it there?