Desde la azotea, el paisaje se ve mejor que desde el balcón.

Azotea usually means a flat roof or rooftop terrace, especially one you can go out onto. In Spain, it does not usually mean the sloping outside roof of a house.

So:

• azotea = flat rooftop / roof terrace
• tejado = roof, especially a sloping one with tiles

In this sentence, desde la azotea means from the rooftop.

Desde means from when talking about a starting point, origin, or viewpoint.

Here it marks the place you are looking from:

• Desde la azotea = from the rooftop
• desde el balcón = from the balcony

So the sentence compares two viewing points.

It is repeated because Spanish often repeats the preposition in comparisons when both parts need to be clear and balanced:

• Desde la azotea, el paisaje se ve mejor que desde el balcón.

This is the most natural version.

You may sometimes hear a shorter version in context, but repeating desde is clearer and more standard here because the comparison is specifically between two places you look from.

Se ve comes from the verb verse, which in sentences like this means something like:

• to look
• to be seen
• to appear

So el paisaje se ve mejor means:

• the landscape looks better
• the landscape can be seen better

If you said just ve, that would normally mean he/she/it sees, which would not fit here because the landscape is not doing the seeing.

Not in the usual sense of a true reflexive action like se lava = he washes himself.

Here, se ve is better understood as part of a very common Spanish structure where se gives an impersonal or middle/passive-like meaning. It focuses on how something appears rather than on who is seeing it.

So:

• El paisaje se ve mejor = The landscape looks better / is seen better

It does not mean that the landscape is literally seeing itself.

Spanish uses definite articles much more often than English.

Here, el paisaje refers to the view/the landscape as the thing being discussed. Even when English might say just the view looks better, Spanish naturally says el paisaje.

The same applies to:

• la azotea
• el balcón

Spanish usually includes the article with nouns like these unless there is a special reason not to.

Mejor que means better than.

It is the comparative form of bueno/bien in this kind of structure:

• mejor que = better than
• peor que = worse than

So:

• se ve mejor que desde el balcón = it looks better than from the balcony

The comparison is between the quality of the view from two places.

Yes. Spanish allows some flexibility in word order.

For example, these are both natural:

• Desde la azotea, el paisaje se ve mejor que desde el balcón.
• El paisaje se ve mejor desde la azotea que desde el balcón.

The version with Desde la azotea first gives special emphasis to the viewpoint right away. It sets the scene before introducing el paisaje.

It is very natural here because Desde la azotea is a fronted introductory phrase.

• Desde la azotea, el paisaje se ve mejor...

The comma helps separate the setting from the main statement.

In informal writing, some people might omit it, but using the comma is a good choice and makes the sentence easier to read.

These words are related but not the same:

• azotea = rooftop, usually flat and on top of a building
• balcón = balcony, projecting from a wall, usually attached to a room
• terraza = terrace, an outdoor space; this could be on the ground, on an upper floor, or even on a roof depending on context

So in the sentence, the comparison is between a rooftop and a balcony, not just two generic outdoor spaces.

For comparisons, Spanish normally uses mejor as the comparative of bueno/bien:

• bueno → mejor
• bien → mejor

So:

• se ve mejor = it looks better

Más bueno is generally not used for normal comparisons like this. It can appear in special contexts, but for standard better, use mejor.

Yes, you could, but it changes the nuance a little.

• se ve mejor = it looks better / can be seen better
• se ve más bonito = it looks prettier
• se ve más hermoso = it looks more beautiful

Mejor is broader. It could mean the view is clearer, wider, more impressive, or simply nicer overall. Más bonito focuses more specifically on beauty.

Because se ve mejor talks about how something looks from a certain viewpoint.

• El paisaje se ve mejor = the landscape looks better / is seen better
• El paisaje está mejor would sound odd in most contexts, because estar mejor usually means something like to be better, often referring to condition, health, or situation

Here the idea is visual appearance, so se ve mejor is the natural choice.

A rough pronunciation in Spain would be:

DES-de la a-tho-TE-a, el pai-SA-he se BE me-HOR ke DES-de el bal-KON

A few notes for Spain Spanish:

• z in azotea is pronounced like th in think
• c before e/i would also have that sound in most of Spain, but there is no such case here
• j in paisaje is a strong throaty sound, like a Spanish h
• the stress falls on:
  • azotEA
  • paisAje
  • balCÓN

Yes. That is one reason se ve is so useful.

Depending on context, El paisaje se ve mejor can suggest:

• the view is more beautiful from there
• the view is clearer from there
• you can see more of it from there

So the Spanish is slightly flexible, just like English looks better can sometimes combine appearance and visibility.