Breakdown of Rússíbaninn í tívolíinu er miklu hraðari núna.
vera
to be
núna
now
í
in / into / to (before the hour, in telling time) / per (in frequency expressions)
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
Questions & Answers about Rússíbaninn í tívolíinu er miklu hraðari núna.
Why do we use miklu here instead of mikið?
When using a comparative adjective like hraðari (faster), Icelandic uses the dative case to express by how much things differ. This is called the 'dative of difference.' Since miklu is the dative form of mikið, the phrase miklu hraðari literally translates to 'faster by much.'
The word rússíbani looks like it has the word for 'Russian' in it. Does it?
Yes! It translates to 'Russian track'. The first part is Rússi (Russian). The second part, bani, comes from the Danish word 'bane' (track)—though many learners jokingly translate it as 'Russian death' since the native Icelandic word bani means death or slayer! The 'Russian' part refers to the 17th-century ice slides that inspired modern roller coasters.
Why are there two 'i's in a row in tívolíinu?
Tívolí (amusement park) is a neuter noun borrowed from the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. When you add the definite dative suffix -inu (because the roller coaster is stationary in the park), the suffix simply attaches to the end of the root word, creating the double vowel: tívolí + -inu = tívolíinu.
Would hraðari change if the roller coaster were a feminine or neuter word?