Breakdown of Parísarhjólið er nokkru hægara en klessubíllinn.
vera
to be
en
than
hægur
slow
nokkru
somewhat (with a comparative)
parísarhjólið
the Ferris wheel
klessubíllinn
the bumper car
Questions & Answers about Parísarhjólið er nokkru hægara en klessubíllinn.
Why is the word nokkru in the dative case here?
In Icelandic, you use the dative case to express the 'amount of difference' when comparing things. nokkru is the dative neuter form of nokkur (some). Used with the comparative adjective hægara, it translates to 'slower by some amount' or 'somewhat slower'.
Why is the word for slower hægara instead of the more common hægari?
Comparative adjectives still have to agree with the gender of the noun they describe. Since Parísarhjólið (the Ferris wheel) is a neuter noun, the adjective takes the neuter comparative form hægara. If we were talking about a masculine noun like a car, it would be hægari.
What are the literal translations of the compound nouns Parísarhjólið and klessubíllinn?
Parísarhjólið literally means 'the wheel of Paris' (París + ar + hjól + ið), which is how Icelandic refers to a Ferris wheel. klessubíllinn is made up of klessa (a smash or crash) and bíll (car) plus the definite article inn, giving us 'the crash car' or bumper car.
Why does klessubíllinn stay in the nominative case at the end of the sentence?
The conjunction en (than) doesn't dictate a specific case. The second item in a comparison simply matches the case of the first item. Because Parísarhjólið is the subject of the sentence and is in the nominative case, klessubíllinn must also be in the nominative.
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