Spurningarorðið kemur fyrst í setningunni.

It is a compound noun:

• spurning = question
• orð = word

Together, spurningarorð means question word.

Then Icelandic adds the definite article to the end of the noun, so:

• spurningarorð = a question word
• spurningarorðið = the question word

So the whole form spurningarorðið is the neuter singular nominative definite form.

That -ið is the suffixed definite article, meaning the.

In Icelandic, instead of putting a separate word like English the before the noun, the article is usually attached to the noun itself.

For a neuter noun like orð, the nominative singular definite ending is often -ið:

• orð = word
• orðið = the word

The same pattern appears in the compound:

• spurningarorð = question word
• spurningarorðið = the question word

Yes, kemur literally means comes. It is the present tense of koma = to come.

In Icelandic, koma fyrst can be used in a more general sense like come first or appear first, not only for physical movement.

So in this sentence, kemur fyrst means something like:

• comes first
• appears first
• goes first in order

That is a natural way to describe word order in Icelandic.

Because fyrst is being used adverbially here.

Compare:

• fyrstur = first as an adjective, describing a noun
• fyrst = first as an adverb, describing how or where something happens in sequence

In kemur fyrst, the word fyrst modifies the verb kemur, so it means comes first.

You can think of it as answering in what position? or in what order?

Because the preposition í takes different cases depending on meaning.

Here it means in the sentence as a location, so Icelandic uses the dative.

The noun is:

• setning = sentence

Its definite dative singular form is:

• setningunni = the sentence / in the sentence

So:

• í setningunni = in the sentence

This is a very common Icelandic pattern:

• í
  • dative for location
• í
  • accusative for motion into something

Yes. The ending shows both case and definiteness.

Here is the basic idea:

• setning = sentence
• setningin = the sentence (nominative)
• setningunni = the sentence (dative)

So in í setningunni, the noun is:

• singular
• definite
• dative

English does this with separate words and fixed forms, but Icelandic often builds that information into the noun ending.

This sentence follows a normal Icelandic main-clause pattern: the finite verb comes early, usually in second position.

Here the order is:

• Spurningarorðið = subject
• kemur = finite verb
• fyrst = adverb
• í setningunni = prepositional phrase

That gives:

• Subject + Verb + other elements

This looks similar to English, but Icelandic is often described as a verb-second (V2) language. That means the finite verb tends to stay in the second slot in main clauses, even if something other than the subject comes first.

For example, Icelandic can also do things like:

• Í þessari setningu kemur spurningarorðið fyrst.

There, the verb kemur is still in second position.

You could make the nouns indefinite, but it would sound less natural for a general rule like this.

The version with definite forms:

• Spurningarorðið kemur fyrst í setningunni.

sounds like a statement about the normal position of the question word in the sentence.

If you remove the definite endings:

• Spurningarorð kemur fyrst í setningu

it feels more bare and less idiomatic in this kind of explanatory grammar sentence.

In Icelandic, definite forms are often used when talking about a general, identifiable element in grammar explanations.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Spurningarorðið ≈ SPUR-ninga-ror-thith
• kemur ≈ KYEH-mur
• fyrst ≈ first but with an Icelandic r
• í ≈ ee
• setningunni ≈ SET-ning-unni

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• ð is like the th in this
• þ would be like the th in thing — but that letter does not appear in this sentence
• ll, nn, and other double consonants can affect pronunciation in Icelandic, though here the spelling is fairly straightforward
• The r is typically trilled or tapped, not like most English r sounds

No. It is a statement about questions, not a question itself.

A learner might notice spurningarorðið means the question word, but the full sentence is declarative. It explains a grammar rule: where the question word goes in a sentence.

So even though it talks about question words, its structure is that of a normal statement, not an actual question.