Breakdown of Hvaða tegund geita er bóndinn að rækta?
vera
to be
að
to (infinitive marker)
hvaða
which, what
tegundin
the type (f)
Questions & Answers about Hvaða tegund geita er bóndinn að rækta?
Why is the word for goats geita here instead of geitur?
This is the genitive (possessive) plural, meaning "of goats". This lesson's focus is on bare (indefinite) nouns in the genitive plural, which almost always end in -a no matter their gender. The basic word is geit (a goat) and the standard plural is geitur (goats), but after tegund (type), we need the "of" case, making it geita.
Does the question word hvaða change its ending to match tegund?
No, it doesn't! Unlike most describing words in Icelandic, hvaða (what/which) is frozen. It never changes its form, regardless of the gender, number, or case of the noun that comes after it.
Since tegund geita (type of goats) is at the start of the sentence, is it the subject?
No, the subject is bóndinn (the farmer). The phrase tegund geita is actually the direct object of the verb að rækta (to breed). In Icelandic question structures, the "what" or "which" phrase is pulled to the very front, but it still acts as the object receiving the action.
Why use the phrase er bóndinn að rækta rather than just ræktar bóndinn?
This uses the continuous form (vera + að + infinitive verb) to mean "is breeding" currently or in an ongoing way. If the sentence used the simple present ræktar bóndinn, it would mean "does the farmer breed?" as a general fact.