Breakdown of Hvort þurfa allir eftirréttirnir að vera vegan eða mjólkurlausir?
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
þurfa
to need
eða
or
allur
all / everything / everyone
hvort
whether
eftirrétturinn
the dessert
mjólkurlaus
dairy-free
vegan
vegan
Questions & Answers about Hvort þurfa allir eftirréttirnir að vera vegan eða mjólkurlausir?
Why does the sentence start with Hvort instead of the verb Þurfa?
Starting the question with Hvort (which of the two) clearly frames it as a choice between two alternatives: vegan or dairy-free. If you started with the verb (Þurfa allir eftirréttirnir...), it could easily be misunderstood as a simple yes/no question asking if the desserts need to be at least one of those things, rather than asking the listener to specify which condition applies.
Does adding Hvort change the word order of the question?
Yes. A standard yes/no question starts directly with the verb (Þurfa allir...). However, when you use Hvort at the beginning, it fills the first slot in the sentence. Because Icelandic enforces a strict "verb-second" (V2) rule, the verb þurfa must come in the second position immediately after Hvort, pushing the subject allir eftirréttirnir to the third position.
Why doesn't the word vegan have a plural ending to match the subject?
The word vegan is a recent loanword from English and is indeclinable in Icelandic. This means it never changes its form, regardless of the gender, number, or case of the noun it describes. By contrast, the native Icelandic adjective mjólkurlausir (dairy-free) behaves normally, taking the masculine, plural, nominative ending -ir to correctly agree with allir eftirréttirnir.
Why is eftirréttirnir in the definite form when it follows allir?
When you use allur (all) to talk about the entirety of a specific, known group, the noun that follows must have the definite article attached. Allir eftirréttirnir translates to "all the desserts" (for example, at a specific dinner party). If you used the indefinite form (allir eftirréttir), it would mean "all desserts" in a broad, general sense, or "every dessert".
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