Þekkja

Þekkja is an Icelandic verb meaning to know in the sense of being acquainted with someone or something, or to recognize by sight. It is used for people, places, objects, and familiar concepts. It can also express recognition or familiarity, as in knowing someone personally or knowing a place. For factual knowledge or information, Icelandic typically uses vita rather than þekkja.

Historically, the verb comes from Old Norse þekkja and has cognates in other North Germanic languages, such as Danish kende, Norwegian kjenne, and Swedish känna. The core sense is to have awareness or familiarity gained through experience.

Conjugation and usage. In the present tense the forms are ég þekki, þú þekkir, hann/hún þekkir, við þekkjum, þið þekktuð, þeir þekkja. The past tense is ég þekkti, þú þekktir, hann þekkti, við þekktum, þið þekktuð, þeir þekktu. The past participle is þekkt and is used with hafa to form the perfect: ég hef þekkt þig (I have known you). Common construction includes direct objects such as a person or a place: Ég þekki þennan mann. Við þekkjum mörg þessara staða.

Pronunciation and orthography. The initial letter Þ (thorn) represents a voiceless dental fricative, commonly approximated as “th” in English. The word is spelled with double kk in the stem (þekk- + ja), and the final -ja is standard for this verb’s infinitive.

See also: vita (to know facts or information); þekking (knowledge). The term þekkja is among the most common everyday verbs in Icelandic for personal familiarity and recognition.