Breakdown of Maskinen forvandler vand til damp.
vandet
the water
til
to (preposition) / for (purpose) / at (an event or occasion) / at (good at something)
maskinen
the machine
forvandle
to transform
Questions & Answers about Maskinen forvandler vand til damp.
Why is til used to mean 'into' in this sentence?
In Danish, til is the go-to preposition for expressing a change of state or transformation. When a process changes something from one material or condition to another, like water becoming steam, til acts just like 'into' does in English.
Do you always pair the verb forvandler with til?
Yes, when you mention what the object is changing into, you must use til. The pattern forvandler [A] til [B] is the standard way to say 'transforms [A] into [B]' in Danish.
Why is there no article before vand or damp?
Both vand (water) and damp (steam) are uncountable mass nouns. Because this sentence talks about the general substances undergoing a physical change rather than a specific measurable unit, we leave out the articles, exactly as you would in English.
Since til means 'into' for transformation here, does it also mean 'into' for physical movement?
No, it is important to separate the two. While til works perfectly for a change of state (like water to steam), if you are talking about physical movement into an enclosed space, like walking into a building, you would use ind i instead.