Breakdown of Á morgun verður bruggið búið að þroskast meira.
að
to (infinitive marker)
á morgun
tomorrow
verða
to become; will be
búinn
finished
meira
more
bruggið
the brew
þroskast
to mature
Questions & Answers about Á morgun verður bruggið búið að þroskast meira.
Is þroskast in the supine (sagnbót) form here, since that is the current lesson topic?
Actually, no! The structure vera búinn að always takes the infinitive (nafnháttur). However, for most middle voice verbs, the infinitive and the supine look exactly the same. To form the supine of an -st verb, you take the active supine (þroskað), drop the final -ð, -d, or -t, and add -st, resulting in þroskast. Because of this rule, you will see the exact same form whether the sentence requires the infinitive ('to mature') or the supine ('has matured').
How does the phrase verður búið að express 'will have'?
Icelandic does not have a dedicated future tense, so it frequently uses verða (will be) to express future states. To say that something 'will have' happened by a certain time (the future perfect), Icelandic simply takes the familiar 'finished doing' structure (vera búinn að + infinitive) and puts the helping verb in the future. Literally, verður búið að þroskast means 'will be finished maturing.'
Why is it búið instead of búinn?
In the vera búinn að construction, the word búinn acts as an adjective and must agree with the subject in gender and number. The subject in this sentence is bruggið (the brew), which is a neuter noun. Therefore, the neuter singular nominative form búið is required.
Why do we use the middle voice þroskast instead of the active verb þroska?
The active verb þroska is transitive, meaning it requires an object (e.g., a person maturing or developing something else). The middle voice þroskast is used here to give an inchoative or autonomous meaning: the action is happening to the subject itself. The brew is maturing on its own, so the -st form is necessary.
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