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Questions & Answers about Hvenær kemur læknirinn?
Is hvenær (when) a word that changes its ending like some other question words?
No, hvenær always stays exactly the same. Unlike a question word like hver (who), which changes its form depending on its grammatical role in the sentence, you can always just plug in hvenær when asking "when".
Why is the verb kemur placed immediately after the question word?
In Icelandic, the main verb almost always takes the second position in a sentence. When you start a question with a question word like hvenær, the verb kemur has to come next, before the subject. The literal word order is "When comes the doctor?".
How does kemur translate to "is coming"?
Icelandic doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English "-ing" form to show that an action is happening right now. The simple present tense verb kemur covers both "comes" and "is coming".