Nóttin er rólegri í sveitinni.

They are:

• nóttin → nótt (night)
• er → vera (to be)
• rólegri → rólegur (quiet, calm)
• sveitinni → sveit (countryside, rural area, district)

This is useful because Icelandic words change form a lot, so the form you see in a sentence is often not the dictionary form.

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

So:

• nótt = night
• nóttin = the night

That -in ending is the suffixed definite article here.

It is nominative singular.

Why? Because nóttin is the subject of the sentence: it is the thing that is something. In sentences with vera (to be), the subject is normally in the nominative.

Because rólegri is the comparative form of rólegur.

• rólegur / róleg / rólegt = quiet, calm
• rólegri = quieter / calmer
• rólegastur / rólegust / rólegast = quietest / calmest

So the sentence is not just saying that the night is quiet; it is saying that it is quieter.

Yes. Icelandic adjectives normally agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case, even when they come after vera.

Here, nóttin is feminine singular, and rólegri is the correct comparative form used with it in this sentence.

Comparatives have a simpler pattern than basic adjective forms, so the agreement is not always as obvious as with forms like róleg or rólegt, but the agreement is still there.

Not necessarily. Icelandic, like English, can leave the second part of a comparison unstated if it is clear from context.

So Nóttin er rólegri í sveitinni can stand on its own even though it does not explicitly say:

• ... en í borginni = ... than in the city
• ... en hér = ... than here

The missing comparison is simply understood from context.

Because:

1. í means in
2. after í, Icelandic uses:
   • dative for location (in, inside, at)
   • accusative for motion into something

Here the meaning is location, not movement, so sveit goes into the dative singular definite form:

• sveit = countryside
• sveitinni = in the countryside / in the rural area

So í sveitinni is exactly what you expect after í when talking about being somewhere.

Here sveit means the countryside or a rural area.

It does not usually mean a town or a village in this kind of sentence. It refers more broadly to rural life or the country as opposed to the city.

So í sveitinni is best understood as in the countryside.

Yes. Icelandic word order is flexible, but the finite verb usually stays in the second position in main clauses.

So you can also say:

• Í sveitinni er nóttin rólegri.

That version puts more emphasis on í sveitinni. Both are natural, but the focus is slightly different.

In Icelandic, accent marks are part of the spelling and usually show a different vowel sound, not just stress.

So:

• o and ó are different vowels
• i and í are different vowels

Also, Icelandic stress usually falls on the first syllable of the word anyway, so the accent mark is not mainly a stress mark in the way English learners sometimes expect.

It can suggest any of those, depending on context.

The adjective rólegur covers a range of meanings such as:

• calm
• quiet
• peaceful
• relaxed

With nóttin, English might naturally use quieter or more peaceful. The exact shade depends on what contrast is in the speaker’s mind.

Because Icelandic often uses a singular noun with the definite article for this kind of general place concept.

So sveitinni is grammatically singular, but it can still refer to the countryside in a broad, general sense rather than one tiny specific field or farm.

That is normal Icelandic usage.