Level A1

Ég veit

“Ég veit” means “I know”, but it refers only to knowing facts. It is important to remember not to use this word when saying that you know a person or that you know a language.

The way to say “I don’t know” is:
Ég veit það ekki. = I don’t know.
The literal meaning is “I don’t know that”. Be careful not to forget the word “það” in “Ég veit það ekki”.
A note regarding the pronunciation of “Ég veit það ekki”:
  • The letter é is pronounced “je”.
  • The g in “ég” is not pronounced. “Ég” is just pronounced “é”.
  • The letter cluster ei is always pronounced “eí”. It’s good to overexaggerate your í sound in “veit”.
  • The “ei” in “veit” is a very long sound. It’s better to overexaggerate the length of long sounds.
  • The ð in “það” disappears.
  • Before a double k, you have to breathe out a little bit. “Ekki” is pronounced [e(h)gi].