Breakdown of Filmen var ret underholdende, men handlingen var kedelig.
være
to be
filmen
the film
men
but
kedelig
boring
Questions & Answers about Filmen var ret underholdende, men handlingen var kedelig.
Why use ret here, and is it different from temmelig?
ret means "quite" or "fairly". In Danish, it is used to scale an adjective to a moderate level—stronger than "a little", but not as strong as meget (very) or helt (completely). It means almost exactly the same thing as temmelig, and you could easily swap it here to say temmelig underholdende.
Why doesn't the adjective underholdende have a gender or plural ending?
Because it ends in -ende. These are verbs acting as adjectives (like "-ing" words in English, such as "entertaining"). In Danish, any adjective ending in -ende is invariable, meaning it never adds an -e or a -t to match the noun it describes.
Does handlingen always mean "the plot"?
In the context of a movie, play, or book, handlingen means "the plot" or "the storyline". However, in everyday contexts, it can simply mean "the action" or "the act". It comes from the verb at handle, which means to act (or to shop!).
Just as a refresher, why is it kedelig and not kedeligt?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. kedelig describes handlingen. Since the base word is en handling (a common gender noun), the adjective takes the basic form kedelig without a -t at the end.