Skip to content

halb

half

adjective HALP Less Common
Numbers & Measures Quantities

Usage Note

halb in clock times means 'half to the next hour', so halb drei is 2:30, not 3:30 — a frequent trap for English speakers. As an adverb it also means 'partly', as in halb fertig ('half done').

Examples

"Ich hätte gern ein halbes Brot."

Natural Translation

I'd like half a loaf.

Literal Translation

I would-have gladly a half bread.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore German by topic