Questions & Answers about Fulltrúinn kemur í dag.
What is the base form of Fulltrúinn?
What does the ending -inn mean?
-inn is the suffixed definite article. Icelandic usually adds the to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.
So:
fulltrúi = representative
fulltrúinn = the representative
What case and gender is fulltrúinn?
It is masculine singular nominative.
It is nominative because it is the subject of the sentence, the one doing the action of coming. Icelandic nouns change form for case, so you would see different endings in other sentence roles.
Why is the verb kemur if the dictionary form is koma?
Koma is the infinitive, meaning to come.
Kemur is the 3rd person singular present tense form, used with a singular subject like fulltrúinn.
This verb also changes its stem in the present singular:
ég kem = I come / I am coming
þú kemur = you come / are coming
hann/hún/það kemur = he/she/it comes / is coming
So koma does not stay exactly the same when it is conjugated.
Does kemur here mean comes, is coming, or will come?
It can mean any of those, depending on context.
In Icelandic, the present tense often covers:
- a general present
- something happening now
- a near-future event
Because the sentence includes í dag (today), English often translates it most naturally as is coming today or will come today, even though Icelandic uses the present form kemur.
What does í dag mean, and why is it written as two words?
Í dag is the normal Icelandic expression for today. It is simply a fixed time phrase that learners should memorize as a unit.
The word dag is related to dagur (day) and appears here in the form used in this expression. Even if the literal structure feels unusual compared with English, í dag is just how Icelandic says today.
Is the word order fixed?
This sentence uses the basic order:
Fulltrúinn + kemur + í dag
subject + verb + time expression
But Icelandic word order is flexible. You can also say:
Í dag kemur fulltrúinn.
That puts more emphasis on today. Icelandic normally keeps the finite verb in the second position, so when a time phrase moves to the front, the verb comes right after it.
How would I turn this into a question or make it negative?
A yes/no question would be:
Kemur fulltrúinn í dag?
A negative sentence would be:
Fulltrúinn kemur ekki í dag.
Icelandic usually forms yes/no questions by putting the finite verb first, and it uses ekki for not.
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