Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.

The week is longer than the day.

Breakdown of Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.

• vera: to be
• dagurinn: the day
• en: than
• vikan: the week
• lengri: longer

Questions & Answers about Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.

Why is it vikan and not vika at the start of the sentence?

Vikan is the definite form of vika (“week”).

• vika = a week
• vikan = the week

Icelandic usually doesn’t use a separate word for “the”. Instead, it adds a suffix to the noun. So:

• vika → vikan (the week)

In this sentence we’re talking specifically about the week compared to the day, so the definite form is used.

Why is it dagurinn and not just dagur?

Same idea as with vikan:

• dagur = a day
• dagurinn = the day

Here the definite article is again attached as a suffix.

Declension (simplified):

• Nominative: dagur → dagurinn (the day)
• Accusative: dag → daginn
• Dative: degi → deginum
• Genitive: dags → dagsins

In Vikan er lengri en dagurinn, dagurinn is in the nominative, because it’s the thing being compared, grammatically parallel to the subject vikan.

Why do vikan and dagurinn have different definite endings: -an vs -urinn?

Because they belong to different genders and declension types:

• vika = feminine noun

  • Nominative singular: vika
  • Definite nominative singular: vik
    • an → vikan

• dagur = masculine noun

  • Nominative singular: dagur
  • Definite nominative singular: dagur
    • inn → dagurinn
      (the -ur + inn combination surfaces as -urinn)

So:

• Feminine like vika often take -in / -an as the definite ending.
• Masculine like dagur often take -inn / -urinn as the definite ending.

What is the base form of lengri, and why is it spelled that way?

The base (positive) form is langur = long.

The comparative pattern is:

• langur (long) → lengri (longer) → lengstur (longest)

So:

• There is a vowel change (a → e) and
• The ending -ur becomes the comparative ending -ri.

This kind of vowel change is very common in Icelandic adjective comparisons.

Does lengri agree with vikan in gender or case?

Yes. In general, Icelandic adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• vikan is feminine, singular, nominative.
• lengri is the nominative singular form of the comparative that fits here.

For many comparatives, the form lengri is the same in nominative singular for all genders, so you don’t see a visible gender ending, but grammatically it’s still agreeing with vikan.

Why is it en here? Doesn’t en also mean “but”?

Yes, en has two common uses:

1. “than” in comparisons:

   • Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.
     The week is longer than the day.

2. “but” as a conjunction:

   • Ég vil koma, en ég hef ekki tíma.
     I want to come, but I don’t have time.

In your sentence it’s clearly the comparative “than” use, because it follows a comparative adjective (lengri) and introduces what we’re comparing with (dagurinn).

Why are both vikan and dagurinn in the nominative case?

Because they are both logically subjects of “to be” (vera) in the comparison.

If you expand the idea, you can think of it as:

• Vikan er lengri en dagurinn (er).
  The week is longer than the day (is).

After er (the verb to be), the complement is in the nominative.
With comparisons using en, Icelandic generally uses the case the noun would have if the full structure were written out. Since dagurinn would be a subject of er, it’s nominative:

• vikan (nom) er lengri en dagurinn (nom)

Could I say “Vikan lengri en dagurinn” without er?

Not in a normal, complete sentence. You need the verb er (“is”) in standard Icelandic:

• Correct: Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.

You might see the verb left out in very elliptical or headline-style language, but for ordinary speech and writing, include er.

Could I repeat the verb and say “Vikan er lengri en dagurinn er”?

You can, and it’s grammatically possible, but it is usually unnecessary and stylistically heavier in Icelandic.

• Normal: Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.
• Emphatic / more explicit: Vikan er lengri en dagurinn er.

In everyday language, speakers normally do not repeat the verb in such simple comparisons unless there is some special emphasis or contrast.

Can I change word order, like “Vikan er en dagurinn lengri”?

No, not in a normal statement. The natural word order here is:

• [Subject] [verb] [comparative adjective] [en] [comparison noun]
• Vikan er lengri en dagurinn.

Breaking lengri away from en dagurinn as in “er en dagurinn lengri” would sound wrong in this kind of sentence. You should keep the comparative adjective (lengri) directly before en.

Could I say “Vika er lengri en dagur” instead? How would that differ?

Yes, that is also correct:

• Vika er lengri en dagur.
  A week is longer than a day.

Differences:

• Vika / dagur (indefinite) → more general, generic statement (a week vs a day).
• Vikan / dagurinn (definite) → either generic (Icelandic often uses definite for general truths) or maybe slightly more “specific” in some contexts (the week vs the day).

Both can express a general fact. Using the definite for general statements is more common in Icelandic than in English, so Vikan er lengri en dagurinn can still be understood generically.

How do you pronounce vikan, lengri, and dagurinn?

Approximate pronunciation (stressed syllable in CAPS):

• vikan → VEE-kan

  • vi like English vee
  • kan with a like in father (shorter)

• lengri → LENG-ri

  • leng like English leng in length
  • ri like ri in rivet (but with a tapped/flapped r)

• dagurinn → DAH-guh-rin

  • da like da in dark (shorter)
  • gur like “guh-r” (again with a tapped r)
  • final inn like in in pin

Stress in Icelandic is always on the first syllable of each word.