"Er fliegt auf einem Schmetterling."

Translation: He is flying on a butterfly.

[vc120]

I sometimes wonder what the creators of these sentences were on.

[AelienFelis]

Schmetterling is the type of a German military plane, if that helps.

[Neotist]

If here Schmetterling means a type of military plane, then one would use "in einem Schmetterling fliegen" not "auf einem Schmetterling", unless of course someone is literally sitting on top of the plane while it operates.

[joefeyzullah]

LSD (S comes from Säure)

[EdwardThor2]

Only sometimes?

[Emmalee341593]

Ant-Man??

[LelandSun]

In German, “er” could refer to a non-person or inanimate antecedent noun that has masculine grammatical gender, in which case “er” should be translated to “it”. “It” should definitely be accepted and might make more sense here, unless “fliegt auf einem Schmetterling” is a standard expression.

[J.C.Fink]

Tom Thumb. Thumbelina.

[NetraNerurkar]

Shouldn't the accusative be used here as 'fliegt' shows movement?

[mizinamo]

Shouldn't the accusative be used here as 'fliegt' shows movement?

No, because after two-way prepositions such as auf, the accusative is not used simply because there is movement involved; rather, it indicates the destination of a movement that starts somewhere else and ends at the noun following the preposition.

Er fliegt auf auf einen Schmetterling would mean "He is flying onto a butterfly" (i.e. he starts somewhere, flies a bit, and lands on the butterfly).

But Er fliegt auf einem Schmetterling (with the dative case) means "He is flying on a butterfly", i.e. the flying takes place while he is on the butterfly. The butterfly is the location of the flying.

[NetraNerurkar]

Thanks. For me the sentence meant that the person was flying on a butterfly (i.e. from one place to another). Looks like I misunderstood.

[mizinamo]

For me the sentence meant that the person was flying on a butterfly (i.e. from one place to another).

That's how I understood it as well.

He was on the butterfly all the time while the flying took place -- so the butterfly was not the destination of the flying. The dative is appropriate.

[GScottOliver]

Frenchman: Un papillon !
Spaniard: ¿Una mariposa?
Italian: Eh, la farfalla.
German: Schmetterling!!!

[123Cornelia]

Der Dichter Wang Tse lag auf einem Felsen und träumte er wäre ein Schmetterling... Plötzlich geschah etwas Unerwartetes... Jetzt wissen wir
nicht ob Wang Tse träumte er wäre ein Schmetterling oder ob ein Schmetterling träumte er wäre Wang Tse ... !!!

[tYInMfXc]

Why is :"it flies on a butterfly not correct".?
It is an animal and not a person!?
I don't understand that.

[PhilipMars9]

Is this some kind of idiom in German? Like, hijacking a respectable cause in order to promote your nastier cause or something?

[mizinamo]

Is this some kind of idiom in German?

No. It's just a silly sentence.

[J.C.Fink]

Or a reference to fairy tales.