Learn Hardcore Danish: Galleriets store sal er fyldt med publikum. - The gallery's large hall is filled with audience members.

…but af galleriet is usually not used for simple possession like this. af tends to mean “made of / consisting of / caused by” rather than “belonging to”:

en statue af marmor = a statue of marble
en beslutning af regeringen = a decision by the government (more formal)

For plain “X’s Y” relationships, Danish normally uses -s on the owner, as in Galleriets store sal.

Why is the adjective store and not stor before sal?

Danish adjectives have two main forms in the singular:

stor (the “strong” form)
store (the “weak” form with -e)

You use store (with -e) when the noun is definite because of a possessive, genitive, or a word like den/det/de:

en stor sal = a big hall
den store sal = the big hall
min store sal = my big hall
galleriets store sal = the gallery’s big hall

Here the noun phrase is definite because of the genitive Galleriets, so the adjective must be store, not stor.

If it means “the big hall”, why is it sal and not salen?

Danish has two different ways of marking definiteness:

With an article (den/det/de):
- den store sal = the big hall
  → adjective: store, noun: sal, article: den
With a possessor / genitive / demonstrative, where the possessor makes it definite:
- galleriets store sal = the gallery’s big hall
- min store sal = my big hall
- denne store sal = this big hall

In pattern 2, the noun stays in its basic (indefinite) form (sal, not salen). The definiteness is already expressed by galleriets / min / denne, so you don’t add the -en definite ending.

So:

den store sal
salen
galleriets store sal

All three refer to a specific hall, but they use different definiteness patterns.

What’s the difference between sal, værelse, and rum? Why use sal here?

All three can be translated as “room” in English, but they’re used differently:

sal: a large hall or big room for gatherings
- koncertsal = concert hall
- festsal = banquet hall
- Galleriets store sal = the gallery’s large exhibition hall / main hall
rum: any room/space, quite neutral and often used in more general or technical senses
- et lille rum = a small room
- et venterum = a waiting room
værelse: usually a private or smaller room (bedroom, hotel room, etc.)
- et soveværelse = a bedroom
- et hotelværelse = a hotel room

In an art gallery or museum context, the big exhibition spaces are normally called sale (plural of sal), so sal is the natural word here.

Is fyldt here a verb (“is filled”) or an adjective (“is full”)? Why isn’t it fyldte?

fyldt is the past participle of the verb at fylde (“to fill”), but in this sentence it functions like an adjective meaning “full / filled (up)”.

In Danish, many past participles used as predicate adjectives do not change form for gender or number when they come after er/var/bliver:

Salen er fyldt. = The hall is full / has been filled.
Gaderne er fyldt med sne. = The streets are full of snow.

You might expect agreement (fyldt / fyldte), but with være (= er) they are usually invariable in modern Danish in this kind of “state” meaning.

You would mainly see fyldte when the participle comes before the noun:

de fyldte sale = the filled halls
fyldte flasker = filled bottles

So:

Salen er fyldt. (predicate after er → invariable form)
Den fyldte sal. (before noun → fyldte)

Why is it fyldt med and not fyldt af?

The common idiomatic pattern in Danish is:

være fyldt med + noun
= to be full of / filled with something

Examples:

Salen er fyldt med mennesker. = The hall is full of people.
Kassen er fyldt med bøger. = The box is full of books.

fyldt af exists, but it’s far less common and often sounds more stylistic or abstract, e.g.:

fyldt af sorg = filled with sorrow (more literary / emotional)

For concrete, physical filling with things or people, fyldt med is the normal choice, so fyldt med publikum is the natural-sounding version.

What exactly does publikum mean? Is it singular or plural? Why no plural ending?

publikum is a collective noun meaning “the audience” / “the public” as a group. It is:

grammatically singular
typically uncountable and has no regular plural form

Compare:

Der er et stort publikum. = There is a large audience.
Publikum klapper. = The audience applauds. (verb is singular)

You usually don’t say publikummer in standard language; you change the wording instead:

mange tilskuere = many spectators
mange mennesker = many people

In fyldt med publikum, it’s understood as “full of audience members”, but Danish treats publikum as one collective mass noun, so no plural marker is used.

Why is it med publikum and not something like af publikum?

With the idea of something being physically filled with people or things, Danish uses:

fyldt med X = filled with X / full of X

So:

fyldt med publikum = filled with audience
fyldt med mennesker = filled with people
fyldt med lys = filled with light

Using af after fyldt usually sounds more abstract or stylistic, or suggests “filled because of X” rather than “containing X”. For the simple “full of audience (members)”, the natural preposition is med.

Could I say Galleriets store sal er fuld af publikum instead? What’s the difference between fyldt and fuld?

You can say Galleriets store sal er fuld af publikum, and it would be understood. The differences are small and mostly about style and nuance:

fyldt (med)
- a bit more neutral, descriptive
- often used when you picture something being filled up like a container
- very common with med
fuld (af)
- literally “full (of)”
- can feel slightly more subjective or emotional (“so full of…”)
- the usual pattern is fuld af

In many everyday contexts, they overlap:

Salen er fyldt med mennesker.
Salen er fuld af mennesker.

Both mean “The hall is full of people.” In your exact sentence, fyldt med publikum is probably a bit more standard-sounding than fuld af publikum, but both are grammatical.

Can I change the word order, for example: Den store sal i galleriet er fyldt med publikum? Does it mean the same?

Yes, you can say:

Den store sal i galleriet er fyldt med publikum.

It’s very close in meaning: “The big hall in the gallery is full of audience.”

Subtle differences:

Galleriets store sal
- slightly more compact and formal
- emphasizes that this hall is the gallery’s own main hall, almost like a named part of the building
Den store sal i galleriet
- feels a bit more descriptive and neutral
- says “the big hall that is located in the gallery”

Both are correct. In written descriptions (e.g. museum texts), Galleriets store sal is very natural Danish.