Questions & Answers about Kaupir þú alltaf kaffið?
Why does the verb end in -ir in this sentence?
The dictionary form of the verb is kaupa (to buy). It belongs to Group 2 of Icelandic verbs. When talking about þú (you) in the present tense, Group 2 verbs drop their infinitive ending and add -ir, giving us kaupir.
Why is kaupir the very first word in the sentence?
To ask a yes/no question in Icelandic, you move the verb to the front of the sentence. English uses extra helping words to do this (Do you buy...?), but Icelandic simply swaps the subject and the verb: Kaupir þú...? (literally Buy you...?).
How does kaffið mean the coffee? Where is the word for the?
Icelandic doesn't usually use a separate word for the. Instead, it attaches an ending, called a definite article, to the back of the noun. Because kaffi (coffee) is a neuter noun that already ends in a vowel, we just add -ð to the end to get kaffið (the coffee).
Since the coffee is being bought, does its ending change here because of the grammatical case?
Because it is the direct object receiving the action, it is in the accusative case. However, neuter nouns like kaffi are very friendly for beginners: their spelling in the accusative case is exactly the same as in their basic dictionary form!
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