Breakdown of Annars vegar er fjölbýlishúsið ódýrt, hins vegar er hávaðinn mikill.
vera
to be
ódýr
cheap
mikill
great, much (adjective: snjórinn er mikill)
hávaðinn
the noise
hins vegar
on the other hand
annars vegar
on the one hand
fjölbýlishúsið
the apartment block
Questions & Answers about Annars vegar er fjölbýlishúsið ódýrt, hins vegar er hávaðinn mikill.
How do annars vegar and hins vegar affect the word order here?
Both phrases are put at the front of their respective clauses to emphasize the contrast. Because Icelandic is a V2 (verb-second) language, the verb must come immediately after them. This is why the verb er appears before the subjects fjölbýlishúsið and hávaðinn in both halves.
Why use mikill for 'loud' instead of a word like hávær?
In Icelandic, the noun hávaði (noise) is typically described as being 'much' or 'great' (mikill) rather than 'loud'. You would use hávær to describe the thing making the noise, like a person or a machine, but the noise itself is mikill.
Why does ódýrt end in -t while mikill ends in -ll?
Both adjectives are simply agreeing with the gender of the noun they describe. Fjölbýlishús is a neuter noun, so the adjective ódýr (cheap) gets the neuter ending -t. Hávaði is a masculine noun, so mikill is in its masculine nominative singular form.
Could hins vegar be placed somewhere else in the second clause?
Yes! While putting it at the start strongly pairs it with annars vegar, you can also place it after the verb where it acts more like 'however'. For example, you could say hávaðinn er hins vegar mikill. Notice that when you do this, the subject hávaðinn moves to the front and the verb stays in the second position.
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