Vatnið verður að gufu af því að það er mjög heitt.
The water turns into steam because it is very hot.
Breakdown of Vatnið verður að gufu af því að það er mjög heitt.
vera
to be
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
mjög
very
vatnið
the water
heitur
hot
af því að
because
verða
to become; will be
að
to, towards
gufan
the steam
Questions & Answers about Vatnið verður að gufu af því að það er mjög heitt.
Why do we need the preposition að after verður here instead of just saying Vatnið verður gufa?
When a subject physically transforms into a completely different substance, Icelandic uses verða að (to turn into) rather than just verða (to become). Using just verða works well for adjectives or changing roles, but physical state changes require að.
Does the preposition að always trigger the dative case for the new state?
Yes. In the verða að construction, the preposition að strictly governs the dative case. That is why the nominative noun gufa (steam) changes to its dative form, gufu.
Could we swap af því að for því or vegna þess að?
Yes, you can. Af því að, því, and vegna þess að all mean the same thing and are largely interchangeable here. Því is just a shorter alternative often used in speech, while vegna þess að can sound slightly more formal.
Why does the sentence end with heitt instead of heitur or heit?
The adjective heitt must agree in gender, number, and case with the pronoun það (it), which points back to vatnið (the water). Because vatn is a neuter noun, it requires the neuter pronoun það and the neuter singular nominative adjective heitt.
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