This page is the practical starter set: the handful of questions you will actually use on day one — asking someone's name, where they are from, how much something costs, where the bathroom is. The grammar behind them is covered in depth elsewhere, but the patterns here are so high-frequency that they are worth learning as ready-made phrases before you fully understand the machinery. Two rules carry everything: invert the verb for yes/no questions, front a question word for information questions, and never add an English-style "do."
Yes/no questions: just put the verb first
A yes/no question puts the finite verb at the very front, with the subject right behind it. There is no helper word. In real speech the pronoun þú ("you") fuses onto the verb, so the everyday forms are short: ertu, áttu, viltu, kemurðu. Learn these fused forms from the start — they are what you will actually hear.
Ertu þreytt?
Are you tired? (said to a woman — þreytt is feminine; ertu = ert þú)
Talar þú ensku?
Do you speak English? (the single most useful tourist question)
Áttu síma?
Do you have a phone? (áttu = átt þú)
Viltu kaffi eða te?
Do you want coffee or tea?
Notice "Do you speak English?" has no "do" in Icelandic — talar simply jumps to the front. This is the question you will use most as a beginner, so make it automatic: Talar þú ensku?
The core question words
For information questions, start the sentence with a question word and put the verb second. These five (plus a couple of "where" variants) cover almost all A1 needs. Note that hv- is pronounced like English "kv" — hvað sounds roughly like "kvath."
| Word | Meaning | Everyday use |
|---|---|---|
| hvað | what | Hvað heitir þú? — What's your name? |
| hver | who | Hver er þetta? — Who is this? |
| hvar | where | Hvar er klósettið? — Where's the toilet? |
| hvenær | when | Hvenær opnar búðin? — When does the shop open? |
| hvernig | how | Hvernig hefurðu það? — How are you? |
The essential everyday questions
These are worth memorising whole. Each is a complete, natural utterance you can use today.
Asking someone's name. Icelandic says literally "what are you called?" — using heita ("to be named"), not "what is your name."
Hvað heitir þú?
What's your name? (literally 'what are you called?')
Asking where someone is from. Use hvaðan ("from where") with either vera or koma ("come").
Hvaðan ertu? – Ég er frá Kanada.
Where are you from? – I'm from Canada. (ertu = ert þú)
Hvaðan kemur þú?
Where do you come from?
Asking the price. Use kosta ("to cost") with hvað and þetta ("this").
Hvað kostar þetta?
How much does this cost?
Asking where something is. Hvar er …? plus the place.
Hvar er klósettið?
Where's the toilet? (klósett — the everyday word)
Hvar er næsta strætóstöð?
Where's the nearest bus stop?
Asking how to get somewhere / how things are going.
Hvernig kemst ég í miðbæinn?
How do I get downtown? (komast — 'get to')
Hvar býrðu núna?
Where do you live now? (býrðu = býrð þú)
Asking what time it is. Use hvað with klukkan ("the clock") — a fixed idiom worth memorising.
Hvað er klukkan?
What time is it? (literally 'what is the clock?')
Asking someone to repeat. When you do not catch something, Ha? is the casual "huh?", but the polite version is below.
Hvað sagðir þú? / Afsakið?
What did you say? / Sorry? (sagðirðu = sagðir þú in speech)
How to answer simply
You do not need full sentences. For yes/no, já ("yes") and nei ("no") are enough; add takk ("thanks") to soften. For wh-questions, a short phrase answers fine.
Talar þú ensku? – Já, smá. / Nei, því miður.
Do you speak English? – Yes, a little. / No, unfortunately.
Hvað heitir þú? – Ég heiti Anna.
What's your name? – My name is Anna. (ég heiti — 'I am called')
If the question is negative ("Don't you want coffee?"), the affirmative answer is the special word jú, not já — that distinction has its own page and is worth learning early, because answering a negative question with já sounds wrong to Icelandic ears.
A note on tú vs you: there is only one "you" here
A relief for beginners: at A1 you essentially always use þú for "you" (singular). Icelandic has a plural/polite þér, but it is (archaic) in everyday modern speech — Icelanders address strangers, elders, and officials alike with þú. So the clitic -tu/-ðu forms (ertu, áttu, viltu) are not only common, they are what you use with everyone. You do not have to agonise over a formal/informal pronoun choice the way you would in German or French.
Talar þú íslensku? / Talið þið íslensku?
Do you speak Icelandic? (singular þú / plural þið — the plural is þið, not þér)
Common Mistakes
❌ Gerir þú tala ensku?
Incorrect — there is no 'do' in Icelandic questions; just invert the verb.
✅ Talar þú ensku?
Do you speak English?
Drop the "do." Move talar to the front and you are done.
❌ Hvað er þitt nafn?
Unnatural — Icelandic asks 'what are you called?', not 'what is your name?'
✅ Hvað heitir þú?
What's your name?
This is a fixed idiom: name questions use heita, not a literal "what is your name."
❌ Þú átt bíl?
Incorrect as a question — statement order with rising tone is not enough.
✅ Áttu bíl?
Do you have a car?
You must invert: the verb goes first (áttu = átt þú), not the subject.
❌ Hvaðan ert þú frá?
Redundant — hvaðan already means 'from where', so 'frá' is doubled.
✅ Hvaðan ertu?
Where are you from?
Hvaðan already contains "from," so do not add frá in the question; you only need frá in the answer (Ég er frá Kanada).
Key Takeaways
- Yes/no question = verb first (Talar þú …? Ertu …? Áttu …?); no "do."
- In speech, þú fuses to the verb: ertu, áttu, viltu, kemurðu, býrðu — use these from day one.
- Memorise the survival questions whole: Talar þú ensku? Hvað heitir þú? Hvaðan ertu? Hvað kostar þetta? Hvar er …?
- Name questions use heita: Hvað heitir þú? (not "what is your name").
- hv- is pronounced like "kv"; the core words are hvað, hver, hvar, hvenær, hvernig.
Now practice Icelandic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- Asking Questions: Inversion and IntonationA1 — The two ways Icelandic builds questions — yes/no questions by putting the finite verb first, and wh-questions by fronting a question word — with no 'do'-support and the spoken clitic forms ertu, áttu, viltu.
- Yes/No Questions and AnsweringA1 — Forming yes/no questions by verb-subject inversion, the spoken clitic forms, and the three-way answer system — já 'yes', nei 'no', and jú, the special 'yes' that contradicts a negative question.
- Wh-Questions: hvað, hver, hvar, hvenær, af hverjuA2 — The Icelandic question words — hvað, hver, hvar/hvert/hvaðan, hvenær, hvernig, af hverju/hvers vegna/hví, hve/hversu — and their syntax: the wh-word fronts, the finite verb takes second position (V2), prepositions front or strand, and the frozen idiom Hvernig hefurðu það?