Breakdown of På afdelingen er der mange indlagte.
være
to be
der
there
mange
many
på
on / at / in (a language) / of (after nouns like end or start)
Questions & Answers about På afdelingen er der mange indlagte.
How does indlagte work as a noun here, and what is its singular form?
Indlagte is the past participle of the verb at indlægge (to admit to a hospital). Just like an adjective, we can use this participle as a noun to mean 'an admitted person'. Because it follows mange (many), it takes the plural -e ending, becoming mange indlagte (many admitted patients). If there were only one, it would be en indlagt.
Could I just say mange patienter instead of mange indlagte?
Yes, you could say mange patienter. However, patienter just means 'patients' generally, whereas indlagte specifically means patients who have been formally admitted to stay at the hospital. Outpatients visiting for a quick check-up would be patienter, but not indlagte.
Why is the word order er der instead of der er?
This is due to the V2 (verb-second) rule. Because the sentence starts with the location phrase På afdelingen (On the ward), the verb er must immediately follow it to stay in the second position. The formal subject der is pushed to the other side of the verb, giving us er der.
Why do we use the preposition på with afdelingen instead of i?