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So, there's this sentence:
弟のもっといいお手本になりなさい！
And the translation given is:
Set a better example for your brother!
But I simply cannot understand why it is composed like that.
Specifically:
I think you might be misled by the non perfectly literal translation.
Ok, so let's try to break down the sentence.
Since the ~なさい indicates an imperative (some sort of order or exhortation to o something), we can safely assume that the subject here is the listener so there would be an implied "あなたは" before 弟の...
This might help to clarify the の a little bit. In fact, it's just the usual possessive particle: (you) become your brother**'s** better example = a better example for your brother.
に here is just the particle that is used when a change, expressed through the verb なる, (in this case conjugated as なりなさい) happens. In particular, "change into something" (in this particular case there is に because 手本 is a noun)
You can look up about に + なる here for example.
So, to sum it up, there is really nothing fancy about either of the particles in this sentence. This should be clear if you try to translate the sentence literally and you consider as I mentioned before that there is an implied subject in the beginning:
(あなたは)弟のもっといいお手本になりなさい
To break it down further ask yourself the following:
All together: (you) become your brother's better example.
That in English renders much better as: become a better example for your brother.
I think the confusion here is in that this sentence is asking you to become actually "a better example" as that's a thing. What I'm saying as that probably you are focusing on that "for" rather than a possessive "'s".
PS: also more on なる here.
手本 is a copybook, so the sentence is literally composed of
- 弟 Little brother
- の possessive particle (↑Little brother's)
- もっといい more good (better)
- お (honorific prefix)
- 手本 copybook
- に into
- なりなさい！ please become! (なる + なさる in imperative form)
お手本 is usually used figuratively to mean an example or a role model.
Why is there に at the end? I'd think that に should be precisely where there is の currently.
に means that the one this command is directed at should "become a copybook", as in to set an example. I can't think of a word that would fit in the place of お手本 so that に could be used in place of の.
