Breakdown of Verðið er gott en gæðin eru slæm.
vera
to be
en
but
góður
good
slæmur
bad
verðið
the price
gæðin
the quality
Questions & Answers about Verðið er gott en gæðin eru slæm.
Since this lesson is about irregular comparatives, how would I say 'The price is better, but the quality is worse'?
You would use the comparative forms of these adjectives: Verðið er betra en gæðin eru verri. Notice that betra is the neuter singular comparative form to match verðið, while verri is the plural comparative form used to match the plural noun gæðin.
Why do we use gott and slæm instead of the dictionary forms góður and slæmur?
Adjectives always change their endings to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Verðið (the price) is neuter and singular, so we use the neuter singular form gott. Gæðin (the quality) is a neuter plural word, so we use the neuter plural form slæm.
In English, we say 'the quality is', but here it says gæðin eru (the quality are). Why is that?
How exactly is 'the' attached in the words verðið and gæðin?
In Icelandic, 'the' (the definite article) is attached to the end of the noun. For the neuter singular noun verð (price), we add -ið to make verðið. For the neuter plural noun gæði (qualities), the word already ends in a vowel, so we just add -n to make gæðin.
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