Breakdown of Afkastagetan er að vísu betri núna en kerfið er ekki stöðugt.
vera
to be
en
but
ekki
not
núna
now
betri
better
kerfið
the system
að vísu
admittedly
afkastagetan
the performance (capacity, throughput)
stöðugur
stable
Questions & Answers about Afkastagetan er að vísu betri núna en kerfið er ekki stöðugt.
Why is að vísu placed after the verb er instead of at the start of the sentence?
In Icelandic, discourse markers like að vísu often sit in the middle of the clause right after the finite verb. You can put it at the start, which would trigger the verb-second rule (Að vísu er afkastagetan...), but keeping it after the verb sounds very natural and avoids emphasizing the concession too heavily.
Does að vísu typically require an en (but) later in the sentence?
Not strictly always, but they are a very frequent pair. Just like in English, if you use 'admittedly' to concede a point, you usually follow it up with 'but' (en) to introduce your main counterpoint. This að vísu [X], en [Y] pattern is great for hedging.
Since there is a comparative (betri), how do I know en means 'but' and not 'than' here?
It is very easy to trip over this! While en does mean 'than' after a comparative, here it operates as 'but'. You can tell from the structure: kerfið er ekki stöðugt is a complete independent clause. If en meant 'than', the rest of the sentence would not make grammatical sense.
What are the root words that make up the compound noun afkastagetan?
It is formed from afköst (performance or output) and geta (ability or capacity). The -n at the end is the attached definite article, making it 'the performance' or 'the capacity'.
Why does the adjective stöðugt end in -t here?
It must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes. Kerfið (the system) is a neuter noun, so the base masculine adjective stöðugur drops the -ur and takes the neuter singular ending -t.
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