"We eat half of the bread."

Translation: Vi spiser halvdelen af brødet.

[brjaga]

Why is it "halvdelen"?

[deactivated user]

Because "half" as a noun is "halvdel" in Danish (literally "half-part).

[ClayRoze]

Exactly, so shouldn't it be Vi spiser halvdel af brødet?

[adcoon]

Since "halvdel" is a noun, it cannot stand alone like that. Either you make it definite (halvdelen), and talk about "that particular half of the bread", or you make it indefinite (en halvdel) and talk about some unspecified half of the bread.

"Vi spiste halvdelen af brødet" is the most common way to say "we ate half the bread". It technically means we ate "that specific half", and you can think of it as pointing implicitly to the specific half which is missing.

"Vi spiste en halvdel af brødet" just means we ate some half of the bread, and you won't hear people say it like that as often.

[shanne11]

Why not, ' vi spiser halvdel af ? Translated in English this sentence would be, ' We eat half of the bread.

[ycUvuSap]

Du skal ha "en halvdel" eller "halvdelen", fordi "halvdel" er et substantiv. Jeg ved ikke hvorfor "en halvdel" er forkert.

[GigiGottwald]

I also don't understand why "en halvdel" is wrong. Would someone please explain? Is it just unidiomatic, as adcoon seems to imply?

[Arsen9371]

Is "af" required here? Last time it was optional...

[adcoon]

Yes, it's required here.

[ycUvuSap]

Hvorfor?

[RyagonIV]

You need to put something between two nouns.

[ycUvuSap]

Hvorfor er "Vi spiser halvt brød." forkert?

[RyagonIV]

"We eat half bread". There's some kind of article missing. "Vi spiser det halve brød" would be alright.

[r0ckyq3en]

I accidentally clicked 'we eat half of the man'... cue Kesha RRRAAAHHHH I I I

[bcrocco1]

You are saying half as an adjective is halvdelen?

[ycUvuSap]

Nej, "halvdelen" er et substantiv. "halv" er en adjektiv.