Breakdown of Maturinn er betri hérna.
vera
to be
maturinn
the food
hérna
here (colloquial, pointing)
betri
better
Questions & Answers about Maturinn er betri hérna.
Where does the word betri come from?
Betri is the irregular comparative form of the adjective góður (good). Just like in English where "good" becomes "better", Icelandic changes góður to betri. A handy thing about comparatives in Icelandic is that they end in -i and don't change for gender in this case, so you can use betri whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter!
Both hér and hérna mean "here". Why use hérna in this sentence?
While both words mean "here", hérna is much more common in everyday spoken Icelandic. It has a slightly softer, more relaxed feel, similar to saying "around here". Hér is a bit more rigid and points to a very specific spot. For a casual statement about the food at a restaurant or in a city, hérna sounds very natural.
Why does the sentence use maturinn instead of just matur?
Because we are talking about "the" food. In Icelandic, the word for "the" is attached to the end of the noun rather than being a separate word. Matur is a masculine noun meaning "food", and adding the masculine definite article suffix -inn makes it maturinn (the food).