Breakdown of Sannleikurinn er oft flóknari en fréttirnar.
vera
to be
oft
often
fréttin
the news
en
than
sannleikurinn
the truth
flókinn
complicated
Questions & Answers about Sannleikurinn er oft flóknari en fréttirnar.
Why does flókinn become flóknari instead of "flókinnari"?
The adjective flókinn drops its second vowel and the extra -n when adding endings that start with a vowel. The base stem becomes flókn-, so adding the comparative suffix -ari results in flóknari.
Why doesn't Icelandic use a separate word for "more" before flóknari?
While English uses "more" for longer adjectives (like "more complicated"), Icelandic generally avoids this. Instead, it almost always forms the comparative by adding a suffix directly to the adjective, regardless of the word's length.
English treats "the news" as a singular noun. Is fréttirnar singular or plural?
It is plural. In Icelandic, a single news story is a countable feminine noun: ein frétt. When referring to "the news" collectively as a concept or a broadcast, Icelandic uses the plural form fréttir. With the definite article suffix attached, it becomes fréttirnar.
Why is fréttirnar in the nominative case here? Does the word en (than) always take the nominative?
No, the conjunction en does not govern a specific case. Instead, the noun following en must match the case of the noun it is being compared to. Because Sannleikurinn is the subject and is in the nominative case, fréttirnar must also be nominative.
Would it be grammatically correct to leave off the definite article and just say "Sannleikur er oft..."?
It would sound quite unnatural. In Icelandic, abstract nouns acting as the subject of a general statement almost always require the definite article. This is why you will hear sannleikurinn for truth, as well as lífið for life and ástin for love, when speaking in broad terms.
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