Við vitum ekki hvert strætóinn fer héðan.

not

Breakdown of Við vitum ekki hvert strætóinn fer héðan.

• við: we
• fara: to go
• vita: to know

Questions & Answers about Við vitum ekki hvert strætóinn fer héðan.

Why is it hvert and not hvar?

Because hvert means to where / where to, while hvar means where in the sense of location.

Icelandic often makes a three-way distinction:

• hvar = where, at what place
• hvaðan = from where
• hvert = to where

In this sentence, the bus is going somewhere, so Icelandic uses hvert.

That is also why the sentence can contain both:

• hvert = where the bus is going to
• héðan = from here

So the structure is basically: We don’t know to where the bus goes from here.

What does strætóinn mean, and why does it end in -inn?

Strætóinn means the bus.

The base word is strætó = bus.
The ending -inn is the suffixed definite article, so Icelandic usually says the bus by attaching the article to the noun instead of putting a separate word before it.

So:

• strætó = a bus / bus
• strætóinn = the bus

This is very common in Icelandic:

• bíll = car
• bíllinn = the car