Questions & Answers about Är maten från igår kall?
Why does a sentence with igår (yesterday) use the present tense verb Är?
Even though igår means yesterday, we are asking about the condition of the food right now. Från igår (from yesterday) simply describes which food we are talking about, so the main verb stays in the present tense (är).
Why does the sentence start with the verb Är?
To form a yes/no question in Swedish, you move the verb to the very beginning of the sentence. This works just like in English when you ask 'Is the food cold?'.
How do we know maten means the food and not just food?
In Swedish, you do not usually put a separate word for 'the' in front of the noun. Instead, you add a suffix to the end. Mat means food, and adding -en creates the definite form maten (the food).
Why is the adjective kall and not kallt?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Mat is an en-word (which we can tell because its definite form is maten), so it takes the basic adjective form kall. If we were talking about an ett-word like vatten (water), we would use kallt.