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Hvar sitja þeir?

Hvar sitja þeir?
Where are they sitting?
From Lesson 9:Information questions (hvað, hver, hvar)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Hvar sitja þeir?

þeir
they (m)
sitja
to sit
hvar
where

Questions & Answers about Hvar sitja þeir?

Why do we use hvar for "where" in this sentence?
Hvar specifically means "where at" or "in what location". You use it when asking about a stationary position, like where someone is currently sitting. (Icelandic has entirely different question words for "where to" and "where from"!)
Why does the sentence translate to "are sitting" when there is no word for "are"?
Icelandic doesn't have a separate "is doing" (continuous) tense like English does. The simple present tense verb sitja translates to both "sit" and "are sitting", depending on what makes the most sense in context.
Does þeir refer to any group of people?
No, þeir is specifically the masculine plural word for "they". This means the speaker is asking about a group of men (or grammatically masculine nouns). If they were looking for a group of women, they would ask, Hvar sitja þær?.
What is the word order rule for questions like this?
In Icelandic questions that start with a "wh-" word like hvar, the verb must come in the second position. The structure is Question Word (Hvar) + Verb (sitja) + Subject (þeir).

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