Fractions and Decimals

Level 4

pusė obuolio (half an apple), trečdalis mokinių (a third of the students), pusantros valandos (an hour and a half), 3,5 = trys kablelis penki.

How It Works

1. Everyday fractions. These words are nouns and take the genitive of the whole:

  • pusė (half): pusė obuolio, Suvalgiau pusę obuolio (I ate half an apple)
  • trečdalis (a third): trečdalis mokinių
  • ketvirtis or ketvirtadalis (a quarter): ketvirtis valandos (a quarter of an hour)
  • penktadalis, šeštadalis and so on (a fifth, a sixth)

Words in -dalis change like brolis: du trečdaliai (two thirds), trys ketvirtadaliai (three quarters).

2. One and a half. Pusantro goes with masculine nouns and pusantros with feminine nouns, followed by the genitive singular: pusantro kilogramo (one and a half kilograms), pusantros valandos (an hour and a half). You may also meet pustrečio (two and a half) and pusketvirto (three and a half).

3. Fractions in math. In school math, fractions use a feminine ordinal, because the word dalis (part) is understood: viena penktoji (one fifth), dvi trečiosios (two thirds).

4. Decimals. Lithuanian writes a comma: 3,5. Read it with kablelis (comma): trys kablelis penki. An ordinary unit noun after a fractional decimal amount is genitive singular: 2,5 kilogramo.

Examples (6)

  1. Suvalgiau pusę obuolio.

    I ate half an apple.

    Pusę is accusative as the object; obuolio is genitive.

  2. Laukiau pusantros valandos.

    I waited an hour and a half.

    Valanda is feminine, so use pusantros.

  3. Trečdalis mokinių serga.

    A third of the students are ill.

    Mokinių is genitive plural: a third of the students.

  4. Du trečdaliai gyventojų gyvena miestuose.

    Two thirds of the residents live in cities.

    Trečdalis changes like brolis: du trečdaliai.

  5. Praėjo ketvirtis valandos.

    A quarter of an hour went by.

  6. Šis maišelis sveria 2,5 kilogramo.

    This bag weighs 2.5 kilograms.

    The decimal 2,5 can be read du kablelis penki. The unit noun kilogramo is genitive singular.

Common Mistakes

  • Using pusantro with a feminine noun.

    Laukiau pusantro valandos.
    Laukiau pusantros valandos.

    Pusantro is for masculine nouns. Valanda is feminine, so it must be pusantros.

  • Putting the whole in the nominative after a fraction.

    Suvalgiau pusę obuolys.
    Suvalgiau pusę obuolio.

    The whole that a fraction is taken from always goes in the genitive.

  • Writing a decimal point instead of a comma.

    Šis maišelis sveria 2.5 kilogramo.
    Šis maišelis sveria 2,5 kilogramo.

    Lithuanian uses a comma in decimals, and reads it as kablelis.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Fractions and DecimalsLevel 4

Learn This First

Fractions name a part of a genitive whole, and decimal notation uses a comma.

Words in This Pattern

pusėtrečdalisketvirtispusantrokablelis