Questions & Answers about Hún syngur betur en við.
What part of speech is betur, and why isn’t it betri?
Betur is the comparative form of the adverb vel (“well”). Adverbs modify verbs, so to say “sings better” you need betur.
Betri is the comparative form of the adjective góður (“good”), used to modify nouns (e.g. betri söngvari “a better singer”). You wouldn’t use betri to modify syngur (“sings”).
Why is en used here? I thought it meant “and” or “but.”
In comparative constructions en means “than.” The structure is:
Subject + verb + comparative adverb + en + second element.
So Hún syngur betur en við literally is “She sings better than we [do].” Outside comparisons, en can indeed mean “and” or “but,” but here its role is strictly comparative.
Why is við in the nominative case? Shouldn’t it be “us” (okkur)?
Because við is the subject of the implied clause við syngjum (“we sing”). After en in Icelandic comparisons, you retain the case the word would have in its own clause. Here that’s the nominative við, not the accusative okkur.
Can I drop the subject pronoun Hún and just say Syngur betur en við?