Breakdown of Lirfan verður að fiðrildi.
verða
to become; will be
að
to, towards
lirfan
the caterpillar
fiðrildið
the butterfly
Questions & Answers about Lirfan verður að fiðrildi.
What is the difference between saying verða fiðrildi and verða að fiðrildi?
While verða alone means to become, adding the preposition að emphasizes a complete physical or metaphorical transformation, meaning to turn into. You use verða að when a thing fundamentally changes its state, shape, or nature, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Why is fiðrildi in the dative case instead of the nominative case we usually expect after verða?
Usually, verbs like vera (to be) and verða (to become) take a nominative complement. However, because we added the preposition að to create the phrasal verb to turn into, the following noun is no longer a direct complement of the verb. It is now the object of the preposition, and að always governs the dative case.
fiðrildi is in the dative here, but it looks exactly like the dictionary form. Why doesn't the ending change?
fiðrildi is a neuter noun ending in -i. A handy rule to remember is that neuter nouns with this ending never change their form in the singular. The nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive singular forms are all exactly the same.
Could I use the verb breytast (to change) in this sentence instead?
Yes, you could say Lirfan breytist í fiðrildi (The caterpillar changes into a butterfly). Both are completely natural. breytast í focuses a bit more on the ongoing physical process of changing, while verða að focuses on the final result of the transformation.
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