Breakdown of Garðurinn þeirra er stærri.
vera
to be
garðurinn
the park / the garden
þeirra
their / theirs
stærri
bigger
Questions & Answers about Garðurinn þeirra er stærri.
Wait, the word for 'big' is stór. Where does stærri come from?
Stærri is the comparative form of stór (big). It is irregular because the vowel changes from ó to æ. Many common Icelandic adjectives have a vowel shift when you add the -ri ending to make them comparative.
Since garðurinn is a masculine noun, would stærri change if we were talking about a feminine or neuter noun?
No! One of the nice things about comparative adjectives in Icelandic is that they do not change for gender. Whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, the comparative form will always end in -i when it is the subject of the sentence.
Why does the sentence say Garðurinn þeirra ('the garden their') instead of just Þeirra garður?
In Icelandic, the most natural way to show possession is to put the noun first with the definite article attached (the 'the' ending), followed by the possessive word. So, to say 'their garden', you say 'the garden' (garðurinn) plus 'their' (þeirra).