Breakdown of Han tager en større del af kagen.
han
he
en
a / an (common)
kagen
the cake
tage
to take / to make (a decision)
Questions & Answers about Han tager en større del af kagen.
How does the word del relate to learning fractions in Danish?
The word del simply means "part" or "portion". It is the essential building block for almost all Danish fractions. To make a fraction, you combine an ordinal number with del, creating words like en tredjedel (a third) and en fjerdedel (a quarter).
We use af here for "of". Is this the standard preposition for fractions and parts?
Yes! When you are talking about a fraction or a part of a whole, af is the correct preposition to use in Danish. You will use this constantly with fractions, such as in halvdelen af kagen (half of the cake) or to tredjedele af kagen (two thirds of the cake).
Why is the comparative større used here, and how is it formed?
større means "larger" or "bigger", which is the comparative form of the irregular adjective stor (big). Notice that the vowel changes from "o" to "ø" and the "r" is doubled. It implies he is taking a piece that is bigger than someone else's piece, rather than just a generally big piece.
If I wanted to say he takes "the biggest part" of the cake, how would this sentence change?
You would use the superlative form of stor, which is størst. Because "the biggest part" is a specific, definite thing, you also need the definite article den (since del is an "en" word). The sentence would become: Han tager den største del af kagen.