Breakdown of Sumir eru rólegir en aðrir tala mikið.
vera
to be
en
but
tala
to speak
mikið
a lot
annar
other, another; second
sumur
some (sumir, sumar, sum)
rólegur
calm
Questions & Answers about Sumir eru rólegir en aðrir tala mikið.
Why do we use the masculine plural forms sumir and aðrir when talking about people in general?
Why isn't there a word for 'people' in this sentence?
Just like in English, you can use words like sumir (some) and aðrir (others) on their own when the noun is obvious from context. Here, they act as pronouns standing in for 'some people' and 'other people'.
Why does the adjective rólegir end in '-ir'?
Adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun or pronoun they describe. Because sumir is in the masculine plural form, the adjective rólegur (calm) must also take its masculine plural form, which is rólegir.
I thought en meant 'than'. Can it also mean 'but'?
Yes! While en is used for 'than' in comparisons, it is also a very common word for 'but' when you are contrasting two ideas, exactly like we are doing here with the calm people and the talkative people.
Why do we use mikið for 'a lot' instead of a word like margir?
mikið is used here as an adverb to describe the action of talking (they talk a large amount). You would use a form of margur (many) if you were counting individual things or people.
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