Breakdown of Er kaffið kalt eða er það heitt?
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
kaffið
the coffee
kaldur
cold
heitur
hot
eða
or
Questions & Answers about Er kaffið kalt eða er það heitt?
Why does the second half of the sentence say er það instead of það er?
Eða (or) is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it links two equal clauses. Because the first half is a question starting with a verb (Er kaffið...), the second half remains a question too. In Icelandic, yes/no questions always start with the verb, so we use the verb-first order er það heitt (is it hot) instead of the statement form það er heitt (it is hot).
Why do the adjectives kalt (cold) and heitt (hot) both end in -t?
Adjectives in Icelandic must match the gender of the noun they describe. The word kaffi is a neuter noun. To describe a neuter noun, most adjectives take a -t ending. If you look these words up in a dictionary, you will usually find their masculine default forms: kaldur and heitur.
Why is the pronoun það used for "it" here?
Where is the word for "the" in kaffið?
Icelandic doesn't normally use a separate word for "the". Instead, the definite article attaches directly to the end of the noun. The base word is kaffi (coffee). Adding the neuter article ending -ið gives us kaffið (the coffee).
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