Lesson 082

Fractions in Russian

If you were following our lessons, you shoud know how to use both Russian ordinal and cardinal numerals. You will need this knowledge for today’s lesson where we learn how to form fractions in Russian.

Vulgar fractions (просты́е дро́би)

числи́тельterm of fraction
знамена́тельdenominator

Russians talk about fractions in feminine. The term of a fraction is a cardinal numeral, the denominator is an ordinal numeral in plural Genitive case (excepting when the term is 1 – then the Nominative case is used for the denominator).

Have a look at the examples:

1/2 – одна́ втора́я
(одна – feminine cardinal numeral, вторая – feminine ordinal numeral in Nominative)

2/3 – две тре́тьих
(две – feminine cardinal numeral, третьих – plural ordinal numeral in Genitive)

4/4 – четы́ре четвёртых
(четыре – feminine cardinal numeral, четвертых – plural ordinal numeral in Genitive)

Russian Pod 101

Decimal fractions (десяти́чные дро́би)

The whole (це́лая) and the fractional (дро́бная) parts are divided by a comma. Look at the examples and try to discern the pattern:

1,1 – одна́ це́лая одна́ деся́тая
5,9 – пять це́лых де́вять деся́тых

1,45 – одна́ це́лая со́рок пять со́тых
2,23 – две це́лых два́дцать три со́тых

12,389 – двена́дцать це́лых три́ста во́семьдесят де́вять ты́сячных

Practice today’s examples with the audio track.

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2 comments on “082 – Fractions in Russian”

  1. Takudzwa says:

    How to read square roots containing deciamls

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hello Takudzwa,

      Could you give an example?

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