Questions & Answers about Af hverju kemur strætóinn seint?
How does af hverju connect to the lesson about af því að (because)?
Af hverju is the question phrase for "why" in Icelandic. It is the exact phrase you use to ask a question that will be answered with af því að (because). Literally, it translates to "from what" or "of what".
Why does the verb kemur come right after af hverju instead of the bus (strætóinn)?
Icelandic uses a strict "verb-second" (V2) rule in most questions and main clauses, meaning the verb must be the second block of information. Because the question phrase Af hverju takes up the first slot, the verb kemur must come next, pushing the subject strætóinn to the third spot.
What is the base word for strætóinn?
The base word is strætó (bus). In Icelandic, the word for "the" is attached to the end of the noun. Because strætó is a masculine word, adding the "the" ending -inn gives us strætóinn (the bus).
Why is the word for late spelled seint with a "t" at the end?
Here, "late" is describing how the bus is coming, which makes it an adverb. In Icelandic, you usually create an adverb by taking the neuter form of an adjective. The root adjective for "late" is seinn, and its neuter form adds a "t" to become seint.