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Var vörðurinn að sofa?

Var vörðurinn að sofa?
Was the guard sleeping?
From Lesson 126:Past continuous (var að)·Icelandic

Questions & Answers about Var vörðurinn að sofa?

How do we form a past continuous question like this in Icelandic?
Just like in English, you swap the verb and the subject. Instead of the statement Vörðurinn var að sofa (The guard was sleeping), you put the past tense of vera first to make it a question: Var vörðurinn að sofa?.
Why do we need the word að before sofa?
The word að links the helper verb var (was) to the infinitive sofa (to sleep). This vera + að + infinitive pattern is how Icelandic expresses that an action was ongoing at a specific moment in the past.
What does the -inn at the end of vörðurinn do?
It is the attached definite article meaning 'the'. Vörður means 'guard', so vörðurinn means 'the guard'. It is in the nominative case here because the guard is the main subject of the sentence.
How would this sentence change if we were asking about multiple guards?
You would need to change the verb var to its plural form voru (were) and use the plural noun. The sentence would become Voru verðirnir að sofa? (Were the guards sleeping?). Notice that the að sofa part stays exactly the same!

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