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)
hraður
fast (adjective)
rússíbaninn
the roller coaster
tívolíið
the amusement park
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?
It would change for a neuter word, but not for a feminine one. In the comparative form, masculine and feminine adjectives share the same ending (-ari or -ri), so a feminine noun would still use hraðari. However, for a neuter noun, the ending changes to -a (for example: Farartækið er miklu hraðara - The vehicle is much faster).
Just a quick refresher: why is tívolí in the dative case here?
The preposition í dictates the case. When í is used for a fixed location or state (where something is located right now), it takes the dative. If the sentence described movement into the park, it would take the accusative.
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