Questions & Answers about Hvernig líður honum í dag?
Does hvernig work the same way as hvaða when building a question?
They are both question words, but with a key difference in word order. Hvernig (how) stands alone and is followed immediately by the verb, just like in Hvernig líður honum?. However, hvaða (which/what) must be attached to a noun before the verb appears, such as Hvaða dagur er í dag? (What day is today?).
Why does this sentence use honum (him) instead of hann (he)?
The verb líða (to feel) is what we call an 'impersonal verb.' Instead of saying 'he feels,' the Icelandic phrasing is closer to 'it is felt to him.' Because of this, the person experiencing the feeling must be in the dative case (honum) rather than the basic nominative case (hann).
If I want to ask how a woman feels, do I need to change the verb líður?
No, the verb stays exactly the same! Because it is an impersonal verb, it is locked into the 'it' form (líður). To ask about someone else, you only change the pronoun. For example, to ask about a woman, you just use the dative feminine pronoun: Hvernig líður henni í dag?
Why is 'today' written as two separate words (í dag)?
Icelandic doesn't have a single fused word for 'today.' Instead, it uses the preposition í (in) plus dag (the accusative form of dagur, meaning day). You can translate it literally in your head as 'in day'.