Learn Hardcore Icelandic: Ég finn mig frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni. - I feel freer in the forest than in the city.

So Ég finn mig frjálsari is structurally the same as English I find myself freer, but in normal English we usually say I feel freer. Icelandic is happy to use finna in this way.

Compare:

Ég finn kuldann. – I feel the cold.
Ég finn ekki lyktina. – I can’t smell (feel) the smell.
Ég finn mig vel hér. – I feel good here / I’m comfortable here.

Why is it mig (accusative) and not mér (dative) after finn?

Because finna is a normal transitive verb that takes a direct object in the accusative case.

Ég – nominative (subject)
finn – verb
mig – accusative (direct object)

So the structure is: I (subject) find me (object) freer…

If you used mér, that would suggest a different construction, for example with the verb finnast:

Mér finnst ég frjálsari í skóginum.
Literally: To me it seems I am freer in the forest.
Here mér is dative because finnast is an impersonal verb: it seems to me.

So:

Ég finn mig frjálsari… – I feel/find myself freer… (personal, active)
Mér finnst ég vera frjálsari… – It seems to me that I am freer… (impersonal)

Why is there no to be verb before frjálsari, like Ég finn mig vera frjálsari?

Icelandic doesn’t need an extra vera here. The pattern:

finna + (sig/mig/þig…) + adjective

already means to feel oneself [adjective].

So:

Ég finn mig frjálsari
is fully natural and means I feel/find myself freer.

You can say Ég finn mig vera frjálsari, but it sounds heavier and less idiomatic in everyday speech. It’s more like saying I find myself to be freer, which in English is also more formal and less common than I feel freer.

Same pattern with other adjectives:

Ég finn mig þreyttan/þreytta. – I feel tired.
Ég finn mig öruggari hér. – I feel safer here.

Could I just say Ég er frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, Ég er frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni is perfectly correct and very natural.

Nuance:

Ég er frjálsari…
States a fact or a more objective description: I am freer in the forest…
Ég finn mig frjálsari…
Emphasizes your subjective feeling or experience: I feel freer / I experience myself as freer…

In many contexts they could both be translated simply as I feel freer…, but finn mig highlights personal, inner experience a bit more.

How is the comparative frjálsari formed, and how is it used with en?

Base adjective: frjáls – free

Comparative: frjálsari – freer

Pattern: many Icelandic adjectives form the comparative with -ari (sometimes with a vowel change):

hress → hressari – more lively
sterkur → sterkari – stronger
fallegur → fallegri – prettier / more beautiful

To compare two things, you use en (like English than):

Ég finn mig frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni.
I feel freer in the forest than in the city.

The word order is usually:

[subject] + [verb] + [complement] + [comparative adjective] + [en] + [second thing]

You do not use meira here (meira frjáls is not idiomatic; use frjálsari).

Why are í skóginum and í borginni in the dative case?

The preposition í (in, into) can take either:

accusative – when there is movement into something
dative – when it’s a location / state in something

Your sentence describes a state: being in the forest vs in the city, not going there. So í takes the dative:

skóginum – dative singular of skógur (forest)
borginni – dative singular of borg (city)

Compare:

Ég fer í skóginn. – I go into the forest. (movement → accusative)
Ég er í skóginum. – I am in the forest. (location → dative)

Your sentence is about where you feel freer, so it uses the location meaning → dative.

What do the endings -inum in skóginum and -inni in borginni mean?

Those are the definite endings (“the”) combined with case endings.

Base nouns:

skógur – forest (masculine)
borg – city (feminine)

Dative singular:

skógi – in a forest (dative, indefinite)
borg – in a city (dative, indefinite)

Add the definite article as a suffix:

skógi + num → skóginum – in the forest
borg + inni → borginni – in the city

So:

í skógi – in a forest
í skóginum – in the forest
í borg – in a city
í borginni – in the city

Your sentence chooses the definite forms, so it’s specifically talking about the forest and the city (understood from context, or more generally “the forest” vs “the city” as environments).

Could I say Ég finn mig frjálsari í skógi en í borg without the definite endings? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Ég finn mig frjálsari í skógi en í borg.

This would be understood as:

I feel freer in *a forest than in a city / than in cities (in general).*

Subtle difference:

í skóginum / í borginni – tends to sound a bit more specific or contrast two types of environment (the forest vs the city as known concepts, or a particular forest and city).
í skógi / í borg – a bit more generic, like in forests vs in cities.

In many real-life contexts, both choices are possible; the definite forms often feel a bit more natural when contrasting two environments the way this sentence does.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move í skóginum or frjálsari around?

Icelandic word order is relatively flexible, though there are preferences.

Your version:

Ég finn mig frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni.
is very natural.

Other possible orders (all grammatical, with small emphasis differences):

Ég finn mig í skóginum frjálsari en í borginni.
Í skóginum finn ég mig frjálsari en í borginni.

General tendencies:

The verb finn stays in second position in a main clause (V2 rule).
The comparative frjálsari normally stays close to mig.
Moving í skóginum or í borginni to the front gives them extra emphasis, like In the forest I feel freer than in the city.

But something like:

*Ég finn frjálsari mig í skóginum…

would be unnatural; mig should stay directly after finn here.

Why is it just en, not heldur en, in this comparison?

For ordinary comparatives (freer than, taller than, happier than), Icelandic uses en on its own:

frjálsari en – freer than
hærri en – taller than
betri en – better than

So:

Ég finn mig frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni.

You normally use heldur en when you are contrasting after a negation, similar to English rather than or instead of:

Ég vil frekar vera í skóginum heldur en í borginni.
I would rather be in the forest than in the city.
Ég er ekki í borginni heldur en í skóginum.
I am not in the city but (rather) in the forest.

So:

pure comparative → en
contrast after a negation or “rather” → often heldur en

How would I pronounce Ég finn mig frjálsari í skóginum en í borginni?

A rough, learner‑friendly guide (stressed syllables in CAPS):

Ég – like YAY but shorter, with a soft g at the end: something like YEH-gh.
finn – like fin but with a longer n: fin (hold the n a bit).
mig – mick with a soft gh at the end: mih-gh.
frjálsari – FRJÁL-sa-ri
- frj like English free,
- ál like owl,
- then sa-ri.
í – long ee sound: ee.
skóginum – SKÓ-yi-num
- skó like skoh (long o),
- gi about like yi,
- num like English noom but shorter.
en – like English en.
í – again, long ee.
borginni – BOR-ginn-i
- bor like bor in born (without the final n),
- ginn like ginn in begin (but shorter),
- i like short i in bit.

Very approximate English-like rendering:

“YEH-gh fin mih-gh FRYOWL-sa-ri ee SKOH-yih-num en ee BOR-gin-nih.”

Native pronunciation will of course be smoother and more compact, but this gets you close enough to be understood.