Kanillinn er mildur, en engiferið er sterkara.

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

• kanillinn = kanill
  • definite article = the cinnamon
• engiferið = engifer
  • definite article = the ginger

So one very common pattern in Icelandic is:

• kanill = cinnamon
• kanillinn = the cinnamon

The article ending changes depending on the noun’s gender.

Here:

• kanill is masculine, so the definite nominative singular form is kanillinn
• engifer is neuter, so the definite nominative singular form is engiferið

So the difference is not random. It reflects the gender of each noun.

Er means is. It is the 3rd person singular present tense of að vera, which means to be.

So:

• Kanillinn er mildur = The cinnamon is mild
• engiferið er sterkara = the ginger is stronger

Since both subjects are singular, er is used in both clauses.

There are two different things going on:

1. mildur is the basic adjective form: mild
2. sterkara is a comparative form: stronger

So the sentence is contrasting:

• cinnamon is mild
• ginger is stronger

Also, the adjective changes form to agree with the noun it describes:

• kanillinn is masculine singular, so mildur
• engiferið is neuter singular, so the comparative appears as sterkara

Because engiferið is neuter singular, and the comparative adjective has to match it.

The comparative of sterkur is often learned as sterkari, but that is not the only form. In this sentence, the neuter singular form is sterkara.

So:

• masculine/feminine singular often: sterkari
• neuter singular: sterkara

That is why engiferið er sterkara is correct.

Yes. In Icelandic, adjectives used after vera (to be) still agree with the subject in gender, number, and usually case.

That is why you get:

• kanillinn er mildur
• engiferið er sterkara

Even though the adjectives come after er, they still change form to match the subject.

They are in the nominative case, because they are the subjects of the sentence.

• Kanillinn is the subject of er mildur
• engiferið is the subject of er sterkara

With vera, the predicate adjective also matches the subject, so the nominative relationship is important here.

In this sentence, en means but.

That is because it connects two clauses:

• Kanillinn er mildur
• engiferið er sterkara

So here it works like but in English: mild, but stronger.

However, en can also mean than in other contexts, especially after a comparative. So learners often need to rely on sentence structure to tell which meaning is intended.

Yes, you can, but the meaning becomes less definite and often more general.

Compare:

• Kanillinn er mildur = the cinnamon is mild
• Kanill er mildur = cinnamon is mild / cinnamon is a mild spice

So leaving off the article usually makes the statement sound more like a general fact rather than talking about a specific cinnamon and a specific ginger.

The adjective form sterkara would stay the same, because engifer is still neuter singular.

Yes, in this sentence it is very close to English:

• Kanillinn = subject
• er = verb
• mildur = adjective
• en = but
• engiferið = subject
• er = verb
• sterkara = adjective

So the structure is basically:

subject + is + adjective, but subject + is + adjective

This makes the sentence quite beginner-friendly, even though the noun and adjective endings carry extra grammar information.