To say bigger or the biggest, English has two strategies — add -er/-est (rich → richer → richest) or stack up more/most (more beautiful → most beautiful) — and it uses the second one freely. Icelandic also has both, but its instinct is the opposite: it overwhelmingly prefers the suffix strategy and reserves meira/mest "more/most" for a narrow set of cases. So more beautiful is not *meira fallegur — it's the single word fallegri. This page covers the regular pattern: comparative -ari and superlative -astur, plus the one fact that catches every learner — the comparative is always weak, no matter where it sits.
The regular pattern: -ari and -astur
For a regular adjective, build the comparative by adding -ari to the stem and the superlative by adding -astur. Here is the full chain for two model adjectives:
| Positive | Comparative (-ari) | Superlative (-astur) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ríkur | ríkari | ríkastur | rich → richer → richest |
| fallegur | fallegri | fallegastur | beautiful → more beautiful → most beautiful |
| sterkur | sterkari | sterkastur | strong → stronger → strongest |
| glaður | glaðari | glaðastur | glad → gladder → gladdest |
(You'll notice fallegur gives fallegri, not *fallegari — when the stem already ends in -l/-n/-r clusters the linking vowel can drop, so the comparative surfaces as -ri. The superlative stays regular: fallegastur. Adjectives with a genuine vowel change — stór → stærri, ungur → yngri — belong to the irregular comparison page.)
Hann er ríkari en bróðir hans.
He's richer than his brother. — comparative ríkari, en 'than'.
Þetta er fallegri leið, en hún er lengri.
This is a more beautiful route, but it's longer. — fallegri (one word, not 'meira fallegur').
Kaffið er sterkara í dag.
The coffee is stronger today. — sterkara (neuter, agreeing with kaffi).
Icelandic prefers the suffix, not 'more/most'
This is the big-picture insight English speakers need, because their instinct sabotages them. In English, longer adjectives take more/most (more interesting, never *interestinger). Transferring that habit to Icelandic produces wrong, foreign-sounding sentences: *meira fallegur, *mest áhugaverður. Icelandic just doesn't work that way for ordinary adjectives — it suffixes them all, however long.
Þetta er áhugaverðari bók en hin.
This is a more interesting book than the other one. — áhugaverðari, suffixed; not 'meira áhugaverð'.
The periphrastic meira/mest is real but restricted: it's used mainly with past participles acting as adjectives (meira spennandi "more exciting," mest notaði "most used") and a few set cases where suffixing would be clumsy. For the adjectives you meet at A2 — stór, ríkur, fallegur, sterkur, kaldur, dýr — reach for the suffix every time.
The comparative ALWAYS declines weak
Here is the rule that surprises everyone, and it's wonderfully simple: the comparative form always takes weak endings — in every gender, every case, definite or indefinite. There is no strong comparative. So ríkari stays ríkari (masc.), ríkari (fem.), ríkara (neuter) — the tiny weak set — and never picks up a strong ending like *ríkarur.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ríkari | ríkari | ríkara |
| Accusative | ríkari | ríkari | ríkara |
| Dative | ríkari | ríkari | ríkara |
| Genitive | ríkari | ríkari | ríkara |
The whole paradigm has just two shapes: -ari and -ara (neuter). That's the entire comparative declension. Compared with the full strong-vs-weak machinery of ordinary adjectives, this is almost no work — which is exactly why getting it wrong (by forcing a strong ending) stands out.
Ég þekki engan ríkari mann.
I don't know a richer man. — ríkari (weak) even though the phrase is indefinite.
Við þurfum stærra borð og sterkari stóla.
We need a bigger table and stronger chairs. — sterkari, weak, plural.
The superlative: strong when indefinite, weak when definite
The superlative is the one that declines fully like a normal adjective, with both a strong and a weak form — and the choice follows the usual definiteness rule. Used predicatively or indefinitely, it takes the strong ending -astur: Hann er ríkastur "he is richest." Used with the definite article (or a demonstrative/possessive), it goes weak: -asti/-asta/-asta.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strong (indefinite) | ríkastur | ríkust | ríkast |
| Weak (after the article) | ríkasti | ríkasta | ríkasta |
Hann er ríkastur í allri sveitinni.
He's the richest in the whole district. — predicative → strong ríkastur.
Þetta er fallegasta húsið í götunni.
This is the most beautiful house on the street. — definite (húsið) → weak fallegasta.
Hún er fljótasti hlauparinn í bekknum.
She's the fastest runner in the class. — definite → weak fljótasti, masculine because hlaupari 'runner' is a masculine noun, even though she is female.
So the superlative gives you a neat contrast with the comparative: the comparative is always weak (one easy paradigm), while the superlative splits strong/weak exactly like an ordinary adjective. Note the u-umlaut in the strong feminine/neuter ríkust/ríkast — the a of -ast- becomes u before the strong feminine ending.
en — 'than'
To complete a comparison, "than" is en (the same word that means "but"). What follows en is usually in the nominative: ríkari en ég "richer than I."
Systir mín er hærri en ég, þó hún sé yngri.
My sister is taller than me, even though she's younger. — comparison completed with en.
Þetta er ódýrara en ég hélt.
This is cheaper than I thought. — en introducing a clause.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hún er meira falleg en systir hennar.
Incorrect — ordinary adjectives suffix, they don't take 'meira': fallegri.
✅ Hún er fallegri en systir hennar.
She's more beautiful than her sister.
❌ Hann er ríkarur en ég.
Incorrect — the comparative is always weak; there is no strong -ur form: ríkari.
✅ Hann er ríkari en ég.
He's richer than I am.
❌ Þetta er fallegastur húsið.
Incorrect — after the definite article the superlative is weak: fallegasta húsið.
✅ Þetta er fallegasta húsið.
This is the most beautiful house.
❌ Hann er ríkari sem ég.
Incorrect — 'than' is en, not 'sem': ríkari en ég.
✅ Hann er ríkari en ég.
He's richer than I am.
Key Takeaways
- Regular comparison: comparative -ari (ríkari, sterkari), superlative -astur (ríkastur). Some stems give -ri (fallegur → fallegri).
- Icelandic strongly prefers the suffix over periphrastic meira/mest — the reverse of English. More beautiful = fallegri, not *meira fallegur.
- The comparative is always weak — just -ari / -ara (neuter), no strong form, ever.
- The superlative declines fully: strong -astur when indefinite/predicative (hann er ríkastur), weak -asti after the article (ríkasti maðurinn, fallegasta húsið). Note the u-umlaut in ríkust/ríkast.
- "Than" is en (not sem); what follows is usually nominative.
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Start learning Icelandic→Related Topics
- The Weak (Definite) DeclensionA2 — The full weak adjective paradigm — used after the definite article, demonstratives, and possessives — laid out for gamall, with its tiny inventory of -i and -a (and -u) endings, the rule that definiteness drives the choice, and the redundant double-marking (gamli maðurinn) that English speakers systematically under-produce.