Once you can count, the next layer of numeracy is parts and operations: halves and thirds, decimals, percentages and the basic arithmetic verbs. Most of this maps cleanly onto English, but Danish hides two genuine surprises for an English speaker — decimals are read with komma (not a "point"), and there is a single, ultra-common word, halvanden, for "one and a half" that English has no equivalent for. Learn those two and the rest is mechanical.
Fractions
Danish fractions are built much like English ones. The numerator is an ordinary cardinal; the denominator is an ordinal-based form, usually ending in -del (singular) / -dele (plural) — literally "part(s)."
| Fraction | Danish | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| ½ | en halv | "a half" |
| ⅓ | en tredjedel | "a third-part" |
| ⅔ | to tredjedele | "two third-parts" |
| ¼ | en kvart / en fjerdedel | "a quarter" / "a fourth-part" |
| ¾ | trekvart / tre fjerdedele | "three-quarter(s)" |
Jeg vil gerne have en halv liter mælk.
I'd like half a litre of milk.
Cirka to tredjedele af klassen bestod.
About two thirds of the class passed.
Mød mig om et kvarter.
Meet me in a quarter of an hour (15 minutes). (et kvarter is the fixed time word)
Two notes. First, en kvart ("a quarter") and et kvarter ("a quarter of an hour, 15 minutes") are related but distinct — the time unit et kvarter is what you'll hear most. Second, trekvart is written as one word and is the usual everyday "three-quarters" (et trekvart år = "three quarters of a year"); the fully spelled-out tre fjerdedele is more mathematical.
Halvanden — the word English doesn't have
Here is the star of the page. Halvanden means one and a half (1½) — and it is a single, irreducible word that Danes use constantly. There is no English equivalent; "one and a half" takes three words, but Danish compresses it into one.
Det tager halvanden time.
It takes an hour and a half. (halvanden time = 1½ hours)
Vi venter på dig om halvanden uge.
We'll wait for you for a week and a half.
Brød koster halvandet hundrede kroner her.
Bread costs a hundred and fifty kroner here. (neuter form halvandet)
The logic is worth seeing, because it is the same logic that built the famously odd Danish tens. Halvanden literally means "half-second" — that is, "half of the way to the second," i.e. one whole plus half of the next → 1½. This "halv- before the next ordinal" trick is exactly how the old vigesimal tens work (halvtreds "fifty" is literally "half-third [twenties]" = 2½ × 20). Seeing halvanden as the everyday survivor of that pattern makes the whole system click; see numbers/tens-vigesimal for the tens themselves.
Note that halvanden agrees with gender like en/et: halvanden before a common-gender noun (halvanden time), halvandet before a neuter noun (halvandet år).
The older relatives halvtredje (2½, "half-third") and halvfjerde (3½) still exist but are archaic — you'll meet them in old texts or set measurements, not in modern speech. Recognise them; don't use them. Today people simply say to en halv / to og en halv for 2½.
Decimals: read with komma, not "point"
This is the error English speakers make most. In Danish, the decimal separator is a comma (komma), and it is read aloud as the word komma. There is no "point" — writing 3.14 or saying "three point fourteen" marks you instantly as a foreigner.
3,14 — tre komma fjorten.
3.14 — 'three comma fourteen'.
Temperaturen er 36,7 grader — seksogtredive komma syv.
The temperature is 36.7 degrees — 'thirty-six comma seven'.
Det vejer 2,5 kilo — to komma fem.
It weighs 2.5 kilos — 'two comma five'.
Two reading conventions to absorb. The digits after the comma are usually read individually for long strings (3,141 5 → tre komma en fire en fem), but short ones are often read as a whole small number (3,14 → tre komma fjorten). And the thousands separator is the mirror image of English: Danish uses a period (or a thin space) where English uses a comma — 1.000 means one thousand, 1,5 means one-and-a-half. Keep the two straight: comma = decimal, period = thousands.
Percentages
"Percent" is procent, and the number before it is an ordinary cardinal. The word procent does not pluralise.
Femogtyve procent af danskerne cykler til arbejde.
Twenty-five per cent of Danes cycle to work.
Renten steg med halvanden procent.
The interest rate rose by one and a half per cent. (halvanden again!)
Der er ti procent rabat i dag.
There's a ten per cent discount today.
Arithmetic verbs
Reading sums aloud uses a small set of operation words. Most are recognisable; the division words and "equals" are the ones to memorise.
| Operation | Danish | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| + | plus | to plus tre (2 + 3) |
| − | minus | fem minus to (5 − 2) |
| × | gange (med) | tre gange fire (3 × 4) |
| ÷ | divideret med / delt med | ti delt med to (10 ÷ 2) |
| = | er lig med / giver | ...er lig med / giver... |
To plus to er lig med fire.
Two plus two equals four.
Tre gange fire giver tolv.
Three times four makes twelve. (giver = 'gives/makes', the casual 'equals')
Tyve delt med fire er fem.
Twenty divided by four is five.
Register notes: gange is the everyday "times" (the noun en gang = "one time," so tre gange = "three times"); the more formal/written term for multiply is multipliceret med. For division, delt med is conversational and divideret med is the textbook form. For "equals," giver ("gives/makes") is casual, while er lig med is the precise, mathematical phrase.
Common Mistakes
The two flagship errors: reading a decimal with "point" instead of komma, and missing halvanden in favour of a clunky multi-word "one and a half."
❌ 3,14 — tre punktum fjorten.
Incorrect — the decimal separator is read as komma, never punktum ('full stop').
✅ 3,14 — tre komma fjorten.
3.14 — 'three comma fourteen'.
❌ Det tager en og en halv time.
Understandable but unidiomatic — Danish has the single word halvanden.
✅ Det tager halvanden time.
It takes an hour and a half.
❌ halvanden år
Incorrect gender — år is neuter, so it takes halvandet.
✅ halvandet år
a year and a half
❌ Prisen er 1,000 kroner. (meaning one thousand)
Incorrect — a comma is the decimal separator; 'one thousand' is 1.000 with a period.
✅ Prisen er 1.000 kroner.
The price is 1,000 kroner.
❌ ti divideret to
Incorrect — division needs the preposition: divideret MED / delt MED.
✅ ti divideret med to / ti delt med to
ten divided by two
Key takeaways
- Fractions: en halv (½), en tredjedel (⅓), to tredjedele (⅔), en kvart / en fjerdedel (¼), trekvart (¾).
- halvanden / halvandet = "one and a half" — one word, gender-agreeing; the same "halv-before-next" logic behind the vigesimal tens.
- halvtredje (2½) and friends are archaic — recognise, don't use.
- Decimals use a comma, read aloud as komma — never "point/punktum." And period = thousands (1.000), the reverse of English.
- Arithmetic: plus, minus, gange (med), delt med / divideret med, er lig med / giver — mind the register and the med in division.
Now practice Danish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Danish Numbers: An OverviewA1 — A map of the Danish number system — and an early warning that the tens from 50 to 90 are built on base twenty, not base ten.
- Dates, Time and MoneyA2 — Telling the time in Danish (including the half-hour trap where halv ti means 9:30), reading dates with ordinals, saying years, and handling kroner and øre.
- Ordinal NumbersA2 — Danish ordinals from første to tiende and beyond — the suppletive low forms, the regular -ende/-te pattern, the anden/andet gender agreement, and how ordinals are written with a period and used in dates.
- The Tens and the Vigesimal System (50-90)A2 — Danish counts its tens from 50 to 90 on base twenty: halvtreds (2½×20), tres (3×20), halvfjerds, firs, halvfems. Decode the halv- prefix and the full historical -sindstyve forms — and why there's no femti.