Comparison Syntax: en, sem, því ... því | Icelandic Grammar

You know how to form a comparative — stærri "bigger," eldri "older," betri "better." This page is about how to wire it into a sentence: how to say "than," how to say "as … as," and how to build "the more … the more." These are matters of syntax, not morphology, and they carry two traps that English habits walk you straight into — the case of what follows than, and the shape of the "the … the" construction. The single most useful idea here is that after en "than," the thing you compare to usually appears in the same case as the thing it's compared with, and Icelandic uses that case difference to disambiguate sentences that are genuinely ambiguous in English. (Comparative and superlative forms are on adjectives/comparative-regular and adjectives/comparative-irregular; this page handles the clause-level glue. For comparison as a class of conjunctions, see conjunctions/comparison.)

'Than' is en — and it has no accent

To complete a comparison, "than" is en. Write it with no accent — en, not \én. (It's the very same little word that also means "but," which is a useful memory hook: one short, unaccented *en does both jobs.) Crucially, than in Icelandic is en, never sem; sem is the relative pronoun "that/which/who," and using it for "than" is a classic transfer slip.

Hún er eldri en bróðir hennar.

She's older than her brother. — en 'than', no accent; bróðir in the nominative.

Þetta er dýrara en ég hélt.

This is more expensive than I thought. — en introduces a whole clause here.

Hann hleypur hraðar en allir hinir.

He runs faster than everyone else. — hraðar (comparative adverb) + en.

The standard matches the case of what it's compared to

Here is the heart of the page, and the thing English does not prepare you for. In careful Icelandic, the noun or pronoun after en stands in the same case as the element it is being compared with. When you compare two subjects, both are nominative, so what follows en is nominative: eldri en ég "older than I," not *eldri en mig. English colloquially says taller than me (object form), and English speakers reach for the Icelandic object pronoun mig — but the standard keeps the subject case ég, because you're comparing two subjects.

Systir mín er hærri en ég.

My sister is taller than I (am). — both are subjects, so en is followed by the NOMINATIVE ég, not the accusative mig.

Þú veist þetta betur en ég.

You know this better than I do. — comparing two subjects (þú, ég) → nominative ég after en.

Why does this matter beyond pedantry? Because the case disambiguates a sentence that is hopelessly ambiguous in English. Take "I like him more than her." In English that can mean either more than I like her or more than she likes him — you can't tell. Icelandic tells you instantly, through case. If the standard is accusative (hana), it matches the object hann, so the reading is "more than I like her." If the standard is nominative (hún), it matches the subject ég, so the reading is "more than she likes him."

Mér líkar betur við hann en hana.

I like him more than (I like) her. — accusative hana matches the object: comparing two people I like.

Mér líkar betur við hann en hún.

I like him more than she (does). — nominative hún matches the subject: comparing how much each of us likes him.

💡

Case after en is not decoration — it's the grammar telling you which two things are being compared. Nominative after en means you're comparing it with the subject; accusative/dative means you're comparing it with an object. So choose the case by asking "the same as what?" — and match it. English can't do this; it leaves the sentence ambiguous.

When what's compared is an object in a different case, the standard follows suit. If the verb governs the dative, the standard after en goes dative too.

Ég treysti honum betur en henni.

I trust him more than (I trust) her. — treysta takes the dative, so both honum and henni are dative; en is followed by the dative henni.

Equality: eins ... og and jafn ... og

To say two things are equal in some quality — "as … as" — Icelandic has two parallel frames. The commoner is eins … og ("equally … as/and"): eins stór og "as big as." The other is jafn … og ("equally … as"): jafn hár og "as tall as." In both, the adjective sits in the middle and og "and/as" introduces the standard. The word after og again typically matches the case of what it's compared with — usually nominative when comparing subjects.

Hún er eins gömul og ég.

She's as old as I am. — eins ... og frames the equality; nominative ég after og.

Hann er jafn hár og ég.

He's as tall as I am. — jafn ... og; the standard ég is nominative.

Þetta er ekki eins gott og í gær.

This isn't as good as yesterday. — negated equality: ekki eins gott og.

A subtle but important point: og, not en, completes an equality. English uses as for equality (as big as) and than for inequality (bigger than); Icelandic likewise splits the job, but the equality word is og (literally "and") while the inequality word is en. Reaching for en in an equality (*eins stór en) is a transfer error.

Kaffið er ekki eins sterkt og þú heldur.

The coffee isn't as strong as you think. — eins ... og, completed by og, not en.

Proportional: því ... því (the more ... the more)

To say "the more X, the more Y" — a proportion where one thing rises with another — Icelandic uses því … því. Note the accent on því (the dative of það); this is the word that carries the accent on this page, the mirror of en, which carries none. The structure is því + comparative … því + comparative, and each clause is built around a comparative form.

Því meira sem þú æfir, því betri verður þú.

The more you practise, the better you get. — því meira ... því betri; note the accent on því.

Því eldri sem ég verð, því minna veit ég.

The older I get, the less I know. — því eldri ... því minna.

You'll often see sem slip into the first clause — því meira *sem þú æfir — and that *sem is the relative/comparative particle, perfectly normal here. An equivalent, very common variant is eftir því sem … því … ("as … so …"): eftir því sem á líður, því kaldara verður "as time goes on, the colder it gets." Both build the same proportional meaning.

Eftir því sem nær dregur jólum, því meira stress verður í búðunum.

The closer it gets to Christmas, the more stress there is in the shops. — eftir því sem ... því ... variant.

The trap here is calquing the English "the … the" literally. English uses the definite article the twice (the more, the better); Icelandic does not use its definite article for this. There is no *hinn meira, hinn betri. The construction is því … því … (or eftir því sem … því …), full stop. Translating the word-for-word produces something that isn't Icelandic at all.

💡

"The more … the more" is því … því (or eftir því sem … því) — and that því wears an accent. Don't translate the English the; Icelandic's definite article has no role here. Two accented því's, each followed by a comparative, is the whole pattern.

Common Mistakes

❌ Systir mín er hærri en mig.

Incorrect — comparing two subjects, so the standard after en is NOMINATIVE: en ég, not the accusative mig (the English 'taller than me').

✅ Systir mín er hærri en ég.

My sister is taller than I am.

English colloquial than me misleads you into the accusative mig. When both compared elements are subjects, the standard after en is nominative ég.

❌ Hann er ríkari sem ég.

Incorrect — 'than' is en, never the relative pronoun sem: ríkari en ég.

✅ Hann er ríkari en ég.

He's richer than I am.

sem means "that/which/who," not "than." Inequality comparisons take en.

❌ Hún er eins gömul en ég.

Incorrect — equality is completed by og, not en: eins gömul og ég. en is for inequality.

✅ Hún er eins gömul og ég.

She's as old as I am.

eins … og / jafn … og close with og. en belongs to bigger-than comparisons, not as-big-as ones.

❌ Því meira þú æfir, betri verður þú.

Incorrect — both clauses need því (with the accent): Því meira sem þú æfir, því betri verður þú. Don't drop the second því or calque the English 'the'.

✅ Því meira sem þú æfir, því betri verður þú.

The more you practise, the better you get.

The proportional needs því in both halves, each accented, and does not use the definite article. Dropping the second því leaves the sentence unbalanced.

❌ Þetta er dýrara én ég hélt.

Incorrect spelling — en 'than' takes NO accent: en, not én.

✅ Þetta er dýrara en ég hélt.

This is more expensive than I thought.

en "than" (and "but") is unaccented. The accent belongs on því, not on en.

Key Takeaways

'Than' is en — no accent — and never sem. (Same word as "but.")
After en, the standard usually takes the same case as what it's compared with: comparing two subjects → nominative (hærri en ég, not *en mig).
That case-matching disambiguates: en hana (acc.) = "than I like her"; en hún (nom.) = "than she likes him" — a distinction English can't make.
Equality is eins … og or jafn … og, closed by og (not en): eins gömul og ég, jafn hár og ég.
Proportional "the more … the more" is því … því (or eftir því sem … því), with the accent on því and no definite article — never a literal calque of the English "the … the."

Now practice Icelandic

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Icelandic→