# Icelandic: You're welcome



## sindridah

Kumpel said:


> Takk, Sindri.



You're welcome ( not quite familiar with the english sentence to a polite respond  ) , You're welcome is right isn't it?

<<Moderator note: This thread has been split off from Icelandic: Drinking straw because a new topic was introduced. This post has been suitably edited for the purpose. Please, please, stay on topic or start a new thread>>


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## Kumpel

_You're welcome_ is slightly more formal.
_No problem_ would be used in a slightly more colloquial register.
But yeah, _You're welcome _is fine.

What's the Icelandic equivalent? I did learn a little before I went, but I've forgotten anything more than já, ne, takk (fyrir) and augnablik (only because it's like the German _Augenblick_).

Takk,
Lloyd


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## sindridah

The most common one is "Ekkert að þakka" but me and my friends who is in our early 30's use "Ekki málið" but you don't want to respond like that to an elderly icelandic people, so the final outcome is "Ekkert að þakka" when it's more ceremonial and "Ekki málið" when you're out in the street giving directions or something like that


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## Kumpel

I've just come across "*ekk*ert *mál*" and I can see the similarities with "*ekk*i *mál*ið"
I'm guessing þakka (*thak*ka) it "to thank" and ekkert is nothing (like *ekki*) so "ekkert að þakka" is like "nothing to thank" which I understand.
But what does the "ekki málið" literally mean, and d'you know how "þakka" lost the thorn, and became just "takk"?

Takk,
Lloyd


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## sindridah

Ekki málið means, it's pretty nuisance to translate it to english, but i guess it's quite similar to what you explained, No problem = ekki málið, and i'm not sure actually what "thorn" means, i get "Þyrnir" in my dictionary wich does not make any sense, but "Þakka" hasn't became "takk" it depends on the circumstances wich to use


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## Kumpel

Sorry, I think I explained badly. 
Thorn is the name of "Þ" in English; would you say _þorn _in Icelandic? 
What I was asking is, if _Þakka _and _takk _are related, why does the Þ change to just a _t_. To me, it seems odd that the Þ (equivalent to _th_ in English) changes to just a _t_.
It's like, the verb "to *th*ank" becoming "*T*anks" when you thank someone.

Can you tell me the conjugation (samtengingu) of þakka, takk?

Lloyd


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## Alxmrphi

Hi Kumpel, the declension (nouns) and conjugation (verbs) are available on this site here, I don't know a single learner of Icelandic who doesn't rely heavily on this site 
_Takk_ is not a verb, it's an exclamation like "Thanks" in English.

Also, two more things, feminine nouns that end in _-ing _in Icelandic only get the_ -u_ in the declension when it is (singular) accusative / dative, so it would be _samtenging_) *but *that is the wrong word, that means conjunction (like _and_,_ but_, _if_) the word for conjugation in Icelandic is _sagnbeyging_.

So _the conjugation of the verb að þakka is_ (_sagnbeygingin sagnorðins að þakka_ _er_)

Ég þakka
Þú þakkar
Hann þakkar
Við þökkum
Þið þakkið
Þeir þakka

It's a normal group-1 weak verb.

[Edit]: I just saw your other question, the development of Old Norse into the Scandinavian languages, Danish lost its "th" (unvoiced) sound and replaced it with "t" *, and this is how the ancestor of þakka went into Danish as "tak", which Iceland borrowed (takk) (under Danish rule), so it has the Danish form (now considered a standard part of the modern vocabulary like_ forest / pork_ are now in English) as well as the original verb form that was present in the ancestor language, so it lives with both, and the difference is that Danish has no unvoiced "th" sound and had meant the form had developed to be _takk_.

*I know next to nothing about Danish or its history, but I know it doesn't have a sound corresponding to þ in Icelandic, or unvoiced "th" in English, because these ended up as [t] in the language.


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## Kumpel

Takk, man.
I used Google Translator to get the word for conjugation; I did it because, reading Sindri's posts, I wasn't sure if his English was good enough for words which are obscure in informal conversation - So, that one's Google's fault.
I'm not learning Icelandic, as such, I'm just interested in linguistic change, so the _Þ > t_ thing was bugging me.
I know _takk_ is an interjection, but it's obviously related to _að þakka_, so I wondered why the difference(, especially as, even in the conjugation you've given, it retains the þ).

Takk fyrir, nevertheless.
Lloyd


PS Just reading through what I wrote, the _"(__samtengingu)" _is in the accusative, but still, the wrong word you say.


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## Alxmrphi

> Takk fyrir, nevertheless.
> Lloyd


The _nevertheless_ part makes it seem as if you haven't got the answer you were looking for, but correct me if I am wrong. I thought I explained the þ -> t difference.
I see what you mean about Google Translate, it does give_ samtengingu_, I wonder how they got that. 



> PS Just reading through what I wrote, the _"(__samtengingu)"  _is in the accusative, but still, the wrong word you say.


Good point, I didn't view it like that!


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## Kumpel

Yeah, don't worry, you did explain it well. 
The _nevertheless _was because I felt like I spent the whole post making excuses for using the wrong word, and talking about how I'm interested in language, and how I do know that _takk_'s an interjection, and that that's in the accusative case, etc.
I drifted off the point of þ > t, well, I drifted off the point of drinking straws.

...but nevertheless, ta.

Lloyd


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