Hvernig sem veðrið er, kemur hún alltaf í kennslustundina.

to be

Breakdown of Hvernig sem veðrið er, kemur hún alltaf í kennslustundina.

• hún: she
• í: to
• veðrið: the weather

Questions & Answers about Hvernig sem veðrið er, kemur hún alltaf í kennslustundina.

What does hvernig sem mean here?

Together, hvernig sem introduces a concessive idea: however ... or no matter how ....

So Hvernig sem veðrið er means no matter what the weather is like. Even though hvernig by itself usually means how, the whole expression is idiomatic and should be understood as one pattern.

What is sem doing in this sentence?

Here, sem is part of a very common Icelandic pattern:

• hver sem = whoever
• hvar sem = wherever
• hvenær sem = whenever
• hvernig sem = however / no matter how

So sem helps turn the question word into a free-choice or concessive expression.

Why is it veðrið and not just veður?

Veðrið is the definite form of veður, so it means the weather.

That is the normal way to talk about weather in Icelandic, just as English also usually says the weather rather than just weather in this kind of sentence. Grammatically, veðrið is also the subject of er.

What form is veðrið exactly?