Learn Spanish (Latin America): La cama ocupa la mitad del cuarto.

La cama ocupa la mitad del cuarto.

The bed takes up half of the room.

Breakdown of La cama ocupa la mitad del cuarto.

to occupy (to take up space)

Questions & Answers about La cama ocupa la mitad del cuarto.

Why do we need the article la before mitad? In English, we just say 'half of the room'.

In Spanish, fractions used as nouns almost always require an article. You cannot just say mitad del cuarto; it must be la mitad (literally 'the half'). This is standard for the fractional and multiplicative nouns you are learning right now, like un tercio (a third) or el doble (the double).

Why is 'takes up' translated as ocupa?

English relies heavily on phrasal verbs (a verb + preposition) like 'take up', but Spanish usually uses a single, precise verb instead. To express taking up physical space or time, Spanish uses ocupar (to occupy). You cannot translate 'take up' word-for-word here.

Could cuarto mean 'a quarter' (1/4) here since this lesson is about fractions?

Great observation! The word cuarto can indeed mean 'a quarter' (like un cuarto de hora for a quarter of an hour), but here context tells us it means 'room' or 'bedroom'. If it meant 'a quarter', the sentence would be saying the bed takes up half of a quarter, which wouldn't make much sense!

Just to review, why does this sentence use del?