Breakdown of Barnið sér þegar lirfan verður að litlu fiðrildi.
lítill
small / a little (small amount)
barnið
the child
sjá
to see
verða
to become; will be
þegar
when
að
to, towards
lirfan
the caterpillar
fiðrildið
the butterfly
Questions & Answers about Barnið sér þegar lirfan verður að litlu fiðrildi.
Why does the sentence use verður að instead of just verður?
While verða on its own often means "to become" or "will be", adding the preposition að specifically creates the meaning of a transformation of state — "to turn into" something else entirely. Because it indicates the resulting state of the caterpillar, að forces the following noun phrase (litlu fiðrildi) into the dative case.
Why is the adjective for "small" written as litlu instead of lítið?
The preposition að dictates the dative case. Fiðrildi is a neuter noun, so the adjective must be in the neuter dative form. The basic nominative neuter form of "small" is lítið, but its strong dative form is litlu.
Does the word fiðrildi change its ending because of the dative case here?
It doesn't actually change from its dictionary form! Fiðrildi is a neuter noun that ends in -i. A handy rule for these specific neuter nouns is that they stay identical in the nominative, accusative, and dative singular. It only changes in the genitive case (becoming fiðrildis).
Why is "when" translated as þegar here rather than hvenær?
Hvenær is strictly a question word used to ask "at what time?" (like "When does the caterpillar change?"). Þegar is a conjunction used to connect two clauses and means "at the time that" an event happens. Since the child is watching an event unfold rather than asking a question, þegar is the required word.
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