пола / половина / трећина

Fractions and Parts

Level 3Sounds Like pola; polovina; trećina

To express fractions in Serbian, use either the indeclinable quantifier пола (half) or fully inflected feminine nouns like половина (a half), трећина (a third), and четвртина (a fourth). Both types govern the partitive genitive, but they trigger different verb agreements.

How It Works

Expressing fractions and proportions in Serbian involves two distinct grammatical structures:

1. The Indeclinable Quantifier: пола

  • Form: Unchanging as a quantifier. It has no case endings (it never inflects to forms like *поле when used to mean 'half').
  • Noun Complement: Always governs a complement in the partitive genitive. Use the genitive singular for mass/uncountable nouns (пола воде) and for a single entity divided into parts (пола града, пола јабуке). Use the genitive plural when referring to a portion of multiple countable items (пола студената, пола јабука).
  • Subject-Verb Agreement: As a subject, пола typically triggers default neuter singular verb agreement in past tenses (perfekat), regardless of the gender or number of the noun complement: Пола јабуке је остало; Пола људи је отишло.
  • Compound Numbers and "Half": To say "and a half" after whole numbers, standard Serbian uses the clipped form по: два и по, пет и по (not *два и пола). Note that numerals like 2 still show gender agreement: два и по сата (masculine/neuter) versus две и по године (feminine). The quantified noun follows standard numeral government (paucal genitive singular after 2, 3, 4; genitive plural after 5+). For a single unit plus a half, both the postposed pattern (сат и по, килограм и по, година и по) and the preposed numeral construction (један и по сат, једна и по година) are fully standard and widely used.

2. Fractional Nouns: половина, трећина, четвртина...

  • Form: Regular feminine nouns ending in -a. They decline fully according to standard noun declension: половина (Nom.), половине (Gen.), половини (Dat./Loc.), половину (Acc.), половином (Ins.).
  • Syntactic Head in Oblique Cases: While пола can appear in prepositional phrases as an indeclinable modifier (e.g., до пола, на пола, са пола снаге), you must use the declined fractional noun when the fraction itself serves as the syntactic head of an oblique argument (such as an object in the Dative, Instrumental, or Locative): Задовољан сам половином (I am satisfied with half); Разговарали смо о трећини буџета (We talked about a third of the budget).
  • Agreement: Standard grammatical agreement requires the verb or active participle to agree with the feminine singular head noun: Трећина студената је положила. However, agreement according to meaning (конгруенција по смислу) in the plural is also frequently encountered when the complement refers to plural animate entities: Трећина студената су положили.

Examples (5)

  1. Пола јабуке је остало на столу.

    Half of the apple remained on the table.

    Word by Word: Half apple.GEN.SG is remained.NEUT.SG on table.LOC

    Here, indeclinable пола governs the genitive singular јабуке. The verb agrees in the neuter singular (остало).

  2. Пола студената је положило испит.

    Half of the students passed the exam.

    Word by Word: Half students.GEN.PL is passed.NEUT.SG exam.ACC

    Even with a plural noun complement (студената), пола requires neuter singular agreement (је положило).

  3. Једна трећина становништва живи у главном граду.

    One third of the population lives in the capital.

    Word by Word: One.FEM third.FEM population.GEN.SG lives in main town.LOC

    Трећина is a feminine noun functioning as the subject, taking standard third-person singular agreement.

  4. Трећина ученика је дошла на време.

    A third of the pupils arrived on time.

    Word by Word: Third.FEM pupils.GEN.PL is arrived.FEM.SG on time.ACC

    Because трећина is feminine singular, the past participle is feminine singular (дошла), not plural.

  5. Он се задовољио половином зараде.

    He was satisfied with half of the earnings.

    Word by Word: He REFL satisfied with-half.INS earnings.GEN.SG

    The reflexive verb задовољити се governs the instrumental case, requiring the declined noun половином rather than indeclinable пола.

Common Mistakes

  • Matching the verb to the plural noun complement instead of the fraction head

    Пола ученика су дошли на час.
    Пола ученика је дошло на час.

    Indeclinable пола demands default neuter singular agreement (је дошло), not plural agreement (*су дошли), even when followed by a plural genitive.

  • Using default neuter agreement with feminine fraction nouns

    Трећина становништва је било против.
    Трећина становништва је била против.

    Unlike пола, the word трећина is a regular feminine noun. The past participle must agree with it in gender (била).

  • Saying 'и пола' instead of 'и по' with whole numbers

    Чекам те већ два и пола сата.
    Чекам те већ два и по сата.

    When combining a cardinal number with 'and a half', standard Serbian uses the clipped form по (два и по, три и по), never пола.

How It Connects

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пола / половина / трећинаLevel 3Fractions and Parts

Learn This First

To use fractions and parts such as 'пола', 'половина', and 'трећина', learners must know how regular feminine nouns on '-a' decline, how to form genitive endings, and how quantifiers require a genitive complement.

Words in This Pattern

полаполаполовинатрећина