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Hvenær kemur læknirinn?

Hvenær kemur læknirinn?
When is the doctor coming?
From Lesson 9:Information questions (hvað, hver, hvar)·Icelandic

Breakdown of Hvenær kemur læknirinn?

læknirinn
the doctor
koma
to come
hvenær
when

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".
Where is the word for "the" in this sentence?
In Icelandic, "the" is attached to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word. The base word for doctor is læknir. By adding the definite suffix -inn, it becomes læknirinn ("the doctor").

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