Russian Fractions

If you already know about cardinal and ordinal numbers, it is time to start using them together to say fractions in Russian. Fractional numbers are used to designate fractions. The basic examples of fractions in Russian are:

1/3 - одна третья [ahd-nah tryeht'-yah]
1/2 - одна вторая [ahd-nah ftah-rah-yah]
2/9 - две девятых [dvyeh dee-vyah-tikh]

As you might have noticed from the examples, the first part of a fractional numeral is the cardinal number, the second part is the ordinal number.

Agreement with nouns

The numbers in Russian follow the same grammar rules as adjectives. They must agree with nouns in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular or plural) and case. You should use the feminine form of numerals 1 and 2 if they are located in the numerator, as in одна пятая (1/5). The noun after the fraction is always in the genitive, as in две девятых класса (two third of the class). As you can see from this example, the word класса is in the genitive form (the dictionary form is "класс").

In addition, Russian fractional numerals change by cases (i.e. decline). Both parts of the numeral must change. The first part (the numerator) is changed like the corresponding cardinal number. The second part (the denominator) is changed similar to the adjective интересный or синий. You may want to check out the lesson on declension of adjectives if you wish. The table below gives a few examples:

Case	Numeral две третьих (2/3)	Numeral две пятых (2/5)
Nominative	две третьих	две пятых
Genitive	двух третьих	двух пятых
Dative	двум третьим	двум пятым
Accusative	две третьих	две пятых
Instrumental	двум третьим	двум пятым
Prepositional	(о) двух третьих	(о) двух пятых

Decimal fractions in Russian

Now look at the examples of decimal fractions. Notice that unlike in English, Russians use a comma (not a dot) to distinguish between the whole and the remainder.

0,5 - ноль целых, пять десятых
1,04 - одна целая, четыре сотых
2,75 - две целых, семьдесят пять сотых

Mastering Russian decimal fractions is a two-step process.

1. Say the number placed before the comma, followed by the word целая for numbers ending in 1, or the word целых for all other numbers.
   
   For example: 0,.. - ноль целых; 3,.. - три целых; 41,.. - сорок одна целая
   
   
2. Then say the number after the comma followed by the word десятых (10th), сотых (100th), тысячных (1000th) depending on the type of a fraction.
   
   For example: ..,5 - пять десятых; ..,41 - сорок одна сотая; ..,009 - девять тысячных

In spoken Russian, some fractions have special names:

1/2 is половина [pah-lah-vee-nah] (half)
1/3 is треть [tryeht'] (third)
1/4 is четверть [chyet-vyehrt'] (quarter)
1,5 is полтора [pahl-tah-rah] (one and a half)

The fractions половина, треть and четверть decline like the feminine nouns ending in -ь (степь).

The fractional numeral полтора declines as shown in the table below. Note that it has the form полутора in all cases except the nominaitve and accusative.

Declension of полтора
(stressed vowels are underlined)

Case	Numeral полтора галлона (a gallon and a half)
Nominative	полтора галлона
Genitive	полутора галлонов
Dative	полутора галлонам
Accusative	полтора галлона
Instrumental	полутора галлонами
Prepositional	(о) полутора галлонах

This concludes the lesson about Russian franctions. The following lessons will help you learn more about numerals and improve your understanding of the Rusian grammar.

• Counting in Russian
• Cardinal Numbers
• Ordinal Numbers
• Declension of Adjectives