Breakdown of Einum mánuði seinna umplantaði kennarinn trénu til þess að stækka stofninn.
kennarinn
the teacher
það
it / there (existential) / the one (n)
að
to (infinitive marker)
einn
one
seinna
later
tréð
the tree
til
to
mánuðurinn
the month
stækka
to expand
umplanta
to repot
stofninn
the trunk (of a tree)
Questions & Answers about Einum mánuði seinna umplantaði kennarinn trénu til þess að stækka stofninn.
Why is einum mánuði in the dative case instead of the accusative?
This is the dative of temporal difference, which is the focus of this lesson. When measuring time against a comparative adverb like seinna (later) or áður (earlier), the dative case is used to express by how much the time differs. You can think of it as meaning "later by one month".
Why does umplanta (to repot) take a dative object (trénu)?
Many verbs that denote moving, altering, or shifting an object govern the dative case. This is particularly common for verbs beginning with the prefix um- (meaning around, over, or re-), because they strongly imply a change of state or location for the object.
Tré is a neuter noun. Why does its definite dative form look like trénu instead of adding the standard -inu ending?
Neuter nouns that end in a stressed vowel, like tré (tree) or hné (knee), drop the i from the definite article endings to make pronunciation smoother. Therefore, the dative singular definite suffix becomes just -nu instead of -inu.
Could I just say til að stækka instead of til þess að stækka?
Yes, you absolutely can. Both til að and til þess að mean "in order to" and are followed by a verb in the infinitive. Til þess að is simply a bit more formal and puts slightly more emphasis on the purpose of the action.
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