Questions & Answers about Hundurinn sefur mjög illa úti.
Since this lesson is about hvernig (how), how would I turn this sentence into the question "How does the dog sleep?"
You would start with hvernig and swap the subject and the verb (this is called verb-second word order). Instead of Hundurinn sefur, you would ask Hvernig sefur hundurinn? The answer would then be Hann sefur mjög illa (He sleeps very badly).
Why is the word for "sleeps" sefur when the dictionary form is sofa?
Icelandic verbs sometimes change their inner vowel when they are conjugated for a singular subject (like he, she, it, or the dog). For the verb sofa (to sleep), the o changes to an e, making it sefur.
How do we know this means "the dog" and not just "a dog"?
In Icelandic, the word "the" isn't a separate word before the noun like it is in English. Instead, it gets attached to the end of the word. Hundur means "a dog," and adding the -inn ending gives us hundurinn (the dog).
Why is "outside" translated as úti? Could I use út?
You must use úti here because it describes a fixed location—where the dog is currently resting. Út is only used when there is motion involved, like if the dog were walking or running out of the house.
Why use illa for "badly" instead of a word like vondur (bad)?
Illa is an adverb, which means it is used to describe an action—in this case, how the dog sleeps. Words like vondur or illur are adjectives, which you would use to describe a noun (like a "bad dog").
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