Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Icelandic grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Ert þú viss?
Since this lesson is about 'hvort' (whether), how would I say 'I wonder whether you are sure'?
To make this an indirect question, use hvort and swap the verb and subject back to their normal statement order. Direct questions put the verb first (Ert þú viss?), but an indirect question puts the subject first: Ég velti fyrir mér hvort þú ert viss.
Does the word viss change depending on whether I'm talking to a man or a woman?
Adjectives describe nouns and must match their gender, but luckily viss happens to be the exact same form for both masculine and feminine singular. You can use Ert þú viss? safely for both men and women. However, if you were asking a group, you'd have to change it to plural, like Eruð þið vissir? for a group of men.
Why is it written as Ert þú here when I usually hear people say Ertu?
Ertu is simply the spoken, merged version of Ert þú. In Icelandic, the pronoun þú very frequently attaches to the end of verbs in questions. Writing them as two separate words is a bit more formal, or it can be used if you really want to put heavy emphasis on the word 'you'.