Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.

The boy is taller than the girl.

Breakdown of Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.

• vera: to be
• en: than
• strákurinn: the boy
• stelpan: the girl
• hærri: higher

Questions & Answers about Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.

Why do we say strákurinn and stelpan instead of just strákur and stelpa?

Because Icelandic usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• strákur = boy
• strákurinn = the boy (the ending -inn is the definite article)
• stelpa = girl
• stelpan = the girl (the ending -an is the definite article here)

So Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan means The boy is taller than the girl, talking about specific, known individuals.

What case are strákurinn and stelpan in, and why?

Both strákurinn and stelpan are in the nominative case.

• Strákurinn is the subject of the sentence: the boy is doing the “being”.
• After the verb er (is), Icelandic also puts the noun or adjective describing the subject in the nominative (this is like English “predicate nominative” in grammar terms).
• In the comparison with en, the second noun (stelpan) is understood as the subject of an implied verb: …than the girl (is), so it also stays in nominative.

So:

• strákurinn = nominative singular masculine
• stelpan = nominative singular feminine

What gender are strákurinn and stelpan, and how do I see that?

• strákur(inn) is masculine. Many masculine nouns end in -ur in the basic (nominative singular) form: strákur, hestur, stóll.
• stelpa(n) is feminine. Many feminine nouns end in -a in the basic form: stelpa, kona, bók (this one is an exception in form but still feminine).

The definite endings also give hints:

• masculine definite often ends in -inn:
  
  • strákur → strákurinn (boy → the boy)
• feminine definite often ends in -in / -an depending on the noun:
  
  • kona → konan
  • stelpa → stelpan

So the sentence uses one masculine noun (strákurinn) and one feminine noun (stelpan).

How is hærri related to hár, and how are comparatives formed?

hár is the basic adjective meaning tall or high.
hærri is its comparative form, meaning taller / higher.

Many Icelandic adjectives form the comparative by:

1. Changing the vowel (a kind of “umlaut”):
   • hár → hærri
   • stór → stærri (big → bigger)
2. Adding a comparative ending, often -ari or -ri:
   • fallegur → fallegri (beautiful → more beautiful)
   • ríkur → ríkari (rich → richer)

You usually have to learn the comparative form with each adjective, because the vowel change is not always predictable from an English point of view.

Does hærri agree with strákurinn in gender and case? Would it change with another noun?

Yes. In Icelandic, adjectives (including comparatives) normally agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• strákurinn is nominative, singular, masculine.
• hærri is in the nominative, singular, masculine form to match.

If the subject were neuter, the adjective form would change, for example:

• Húsið er hærra en kirkjan.
  The house is taller than the church.
  (húsið is neuter, so the comparative becomes hærra, neuter form.)

So you should think: What is the gender/number/case of the noun? Then choose the right form of the adjective or comparative to match.

What exactly does en mean here, and how is it different from og and from en meaning but?

In this sentence en means than, introducing a comparison:

• Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.
  The boy is taller than the girl.

Compare with:

• og = and
  
  • Strákurinn og stelpan = the boy and the girl

The word en can also mean but in other contexts:

• Hann er stór, en hún er lítil.
  He is big, but she is small.

So en has two main uses:

• than in comparisons
• but as a contrastive conjunction

There is also enn (double n) which is a different word meaning still / yet, e.g. Hann er enn hér. (He is still here.)

Why is there no verb after stelpan – why don’t we say stelpan er as well?

Icelandic allows the same kind of ellipsis as English in comparisons.

In English you usually say:

• The boy is taller than the girl (is).
  You omit the last is in normal speech.

Icelandic does the same:

• Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan (er).

The second er is understood and therefore left out.
A version like Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan er (with only er) normally sounds heavy or odd in Icelandic; speakers just drop it.

Can I say Strákur er hærri en stelpa? What is the difference from the original?

Yes, the sentence Strákur er hærri en stelpa is grammatically correct, but the meaning and feel are different:

• Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.
  The boy is taller than the girl.
  → Refers to specific, known individuals (for example, the boy and girl you see or already talked about).

• Strákur er hærri en stelpa.
  Literally A boy is taller than a girl.
  → Sounds more like a general statement, or like you’re talking about some boy and some girl, not specific ones. In many contexts it would feel a bit unnatural as a generalization.

So the original sentence with -inn / -an is the natural way to compare two specific people.

Can I change the word order, for example Strákurinn er en stelpan hærri?

No, Strákurinn er en stelpan hærri is not correct Icelandic.

The normal word order is:

• subject – verb – predicate/complement – rest
• Strákurinn (S) er (V) hærri (complement) en stelpan (rest of the comparison).

The adjective hærri needs to stay directly after er (in normal word order), and en stelpan follows as a unit with it.

You might see unusual word orders in poetry or very marked style, for example putting hærri first for emphasis, but for everyday, correct Icelandic you should keep:

• Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan.

Why doesn’t stelpan change case after en? Should it be stelpuna or stelpunni?

In this type of comparison, en is treated as a conjunction, not as a preposition that assigns a case.

What follows is understood as a full clause with an omitted verb:

• Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan (er).
• The boy is taller than the girl (is).

Since stelpan is the subject of this implied verb er, it must be in the nominative case, just like strákurinn.

Similarly with pronouns:

• Hann er eldri en ég.
  He is older than I am. (standard Icelandic keeps ég, nominative.)

So you do not say stelpuna (accusative) or stelpunni (dative) after en in this structure; you keep stelpan in the nominative.

Could hár also mean hair here? How do I know it means tall?

Icelandic has two different words spelled hár:

1. hár (noun, masculine) = hair

   • hár → hárið (hair → the hair)

2. hár (adjective) = tall, high

   • comparative: hærri (taller, higher)

In our sentence, you see hærri, which is clearly a comparative adjective, so it must come from the adjective hár (tall/high), not from the noun hár (hair). Nouns do not make comparative forms like this.

Also, the structure X er hærri en Y fits the pattern subject + is + comparative adjective + than + subject, which makes sense for taller, not for hair.

How do you pronounce Strákurinn er hærri en stelpan?

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• Strákurinn ≈ STRAU-kyr-in
  
  • á like ow in cow
  • u is short, like the u in put
  • r is trilled or tapped
• er ≈ air but shorter and without a strong diphthong
• hærri ≈ HAI-rri
  
  • æ like eye
  • double r with a strong tap or trill
• en ≈ en (like men without the m)
• stelpan ≈ STEL-pan
  
  • e like e in bed
  • l is a bit clearer and can be slightly voiceless, but STEL-pan is close enough for a learner.

Putting it together very roughly:
[STRAU-kyr-in air HAI-rri en STEL-pan].

How would I turn this sentence into a yes–no question or make it negative?

1. Yes–no question

Icelandic forms simple questions by moving the verb er in front:

• Er strákurinn hærri en stelpan?
  Is the boy taller than the girl?

2. Negative statement

You add ekki after the verb:

• Strákurinn er ekki hærri en stelpan.
  The boy is not taller than the girl.

Here ekki = not, and the rest of the sentence stays the same.