Við verðum að hlusta á báðar hliðarnar.

We must listen to both sides.

Breakdown of Við verðum að hlusta á báðar hliðarnar.

• við: we
• hlusta: to listen
• á: to
• verða að: must

Questions & Answers about Við verðum að hlusta á báðar hliðarnar.

What form is verðum?

Verðum is the 1st person plural present tense form of verða.

So:

• ég verð = I become / I must
• við verðum = we become / we must

In this sentence, við verðum means we must because it is part of the construction verða að + infinitive.

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Doesn’t verða usually mean to become? Why does it mean must here?

Yes, on its own, verða often means to become.

But Icelandic also has the very common pattern:

• verða að + infinitive

This means must, have to, or need to.

So:

• Við verðum að hlusta = We must listen
• literally, you can think of it as something like We become obliged to listen, but in normal English it is simply We must listen.

This is a very important structure to learn.

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What is að doing here?