Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Veðrið í dag er verri en í gær. - The weather today is worse than yesterday.

The basic noun is veður = weather (indefinite).
Icelandic usually does not use a separate word like English “the”.
Instead, it adds a definite ending to the noun:
- veður → veðr-ið = the weather
  (the ending -ið is the neuter singular definite article)

So Veðrið í dag literally = “the-weather today” = the weather today.

Why is the verb er used, and what form of “to be” is it?

Er means “is” here. It’s the present tense of the verb að vera (to be), used with 3rd person singular subjects like veðrið (the weather).

Present tense of að vera:

ég er – I am
þú ert – you are (singular)
hann / hún / það er – he / she / it is
við erum – we are
þið eruð – you are (plural)
þeir / þær / þau eru – they are

Since veðrið is “it” (third person singular), the correct form is er:
Veðrið … er verri … = The weather … is worse …

Why do Icelandic speakers say í dag (literally “in day”) for “today”?

Í dag is a fixed expression meaning “today”.

í usually means “in / into / on”.
dag is the accusative form of dagur (day).

Literally it’s “in day”, but as a time expression í dag simply means today. This is very common in Icelandic:

í dag – today
í kvöld – this evening
í morgun – this morning

So Veðrið í dag is just “the weather today”.

Why is it í gær for “yesterday”? Could you just say gær by itself?

The normal everyday way to say “yesterday” is í gær.

gær by itself does exist, but in modern Icelandic it’s almost always used with í in this meaning.
So people will say:
- í gær – yesterday
- í gærkvöldi – yesterday evening

You might see gær alone in some fixed phrases or poetry, but for learners, you should treat í gær as the standard word for “yesterday.”

What does en mean in this sentence, and how do you say “worse than” in Icelandic?

In this sentence, en means “than”.

Icelandic uses en after comparatives:

betri en – better than
stærri en – bigger than
verri en – worse than

Note that en can also mean “but” in other contexts, but after a comparative adjective like verri, it is understood as “than.”

So verri en í gær = “worse than (it was) yesterday.”

What is the base adjective behind verri, and how is the comparative formed?

Verri is the comparative form of an adjective meaning “bad” (usually vondur or slæmur in the positive).

The pattern here is:

vondur / slæmur – bad (positive)
verri – worse (comparative)
verst(ur) – worst (superlative)

So instead of saying something like “more bad”, Icelandic uses a single comparative form verri, just as English uses “worse.”

Example:

Veðrið er vont. – The weather is bad.
Veðrið er verri en í gær. – The weather is worse than yesterday.

Does the adjective verri have to agree with veðrið in gender/number/case?

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

veður / veðrið is neuter singular nominative.
The comparative of vondur is verri / verra, and it is declined like other comparative adjectives.

In careful standard Icelandic, with a neuter subject like veðrið, you will most often see:

Veðrið er verra. – The weather is worse.

However, in real spoken language many people use verri quite broadly, and you will hear and see Veðrið er verri… as well. For exams and formal writing, it’s safest to learn that with neuter subjects like veðrið the expected form is verra.

Why isn’t Icelandic repeating “the weather was” in the second part, like English “than the weather was yesterday”?

Icelandic often leaves out repeated words when the meaning is clear, especially in comparisons.

Full version (more explicit):
Veðrið í dag er verri en veðrið var í gær.
The weather today is worse than the weather was yesterday.
Natural version (what you actually hear):
Veðrið í dag er verri en í gær.
Literally: The weather today is worse than yesterday.

The verb var (was) and the second veðrið are understood from context and are usually omitted.

Can the word order change, for example Í dag er veðrið verri en í gær?

Yes, Icelandic word order is quite flexible for time expressions and topics.

All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:

Veðrið í dag er verri en í gær.
Neutral: The weather today is worse than yesterday.
Í dag er veðrið verri en í gær.
Emphasis on “today”: Today, the weather is worse than yesterday.
Veðrið er verri í dag en í gær.
Slight shift in focus: The weather is worse today than yesterday.

Icelandic is a verb‑second language (the finite verb usually appears in second position in main clauses), but you can move things like í dag and í gær around before or after the verb to change what you emphasise.

What case are dag and gær in after í, and does í always take the same case?

The preposition í can take accusative or dative, depending on meaning.

In time expressions like í dag and í gær, it takes the accusative:

dag is the accusative singular of dagur (day):
- nominative: dagur – a day
- accusative: dag – (for) a day → í dag = today
gær is a special word meaning yesterday. In modern use it doesn’t change form; you just use í gær as a fixed expression.

So in this sentence both í dag and í gær function as accusative time expressions.