Questions & Answers about To skildpadder er halvtreds år gamle.
Does Danish use the same sentence structure as English to express age?
Yes! Just like in English, we use the verb to be (er), followed by the number (halvtreds), the word for years (år), and the word for old (gamle). You can also drop the word for old and just say er halvtreds år.
Why is the word for old spelled gamle instead of gammel?
Because adjectives in Danish must match the noun they describe. Since there are two turtles, the subject is plural. The singular word for old is gammel, but the plural form is gamle.
Is år (years) a plural word in this sentence?
Yes, it is plural, but it looks exactly like the singular form! In Danish, many short, one-syllable words like et år (a year) do not change their ending when they become plural. So, one year is et år, and fifty years is halvtreds år.
Does the word for fifty (halvtreds) relate to the word for five (fem)?
Not directly! Danish numbers from 50 to 90 are based on an old system of counting by twenties. Halvtreds actually comes from an old phrase meaning two and a half times twenty. At this stage, it is easiest to just memorize halvtreds as fifty as a set vocabulary word.