Egyptian fractions are nouns, not shortened cardinal numerals. Everyday Cairo says نص “half,” تلت “third,” and ربع “quarter”; a percentage uses a complete numeral followed by في المية. That division explains why “five percent” is خمسة في المية, but “a fifth” is خمس.
This page gives mainstream Cairene (informal) production forms. Formal MSA has related words and more case marking, but an ordinary Egyptian fraction phrase has neither case endings nor tanwīn. Arithmetic terminology beyond what is needed to describe real quantities is outside the scope here.
The core fraction nouns
| Fraction | Egyptian noun | Common larger fraction |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | نص nuṣṣ | نصين nuṣṣēn, two halves |
| 1/3 | تلت tilt | تلتين tiltēn, two thirds |
| 1/4 | ربع rubʿ | تلات أرباع talat ʾarbāʿ, three quarters |
| 1/5 | خمس khums | تلات أخماس talat ʾakhmās, three fifths |
These are lexical nouns. Their short vowels are not predictable from the matching cardinals اتنين، تلاتة، أربعة، خمسة, so they need to be learned as words. The plural fraction noun follows ordinary 3–10 grammar: تلات أرباع and تلات أخماس have a numeral followed by a plural noun.
تلتين الطلبة اختاروا المعاد الأول.
tiltēn iṭ-ṭalaba ikhtāru l-miʿād il-ʾawwil.
Two thirds of the students chose the first appointment.
تلات أرباع الشغل خلص.
talat ʾarbāʿ ish-shoghl khiliṣ.
Three quarters of the work is finished.
Rule 1: put the whole after the fraction
To name a part of a known whole, put the fraction before a definite noun: نص المرتب “half the salary,” ربع الساعة “a quarter of the hour,” تلت الطلبة “a third of the students.” This compact relation behaves like an iḍāfa partitive; English reverses the semantic order with of.
دفعت نص الحساب وإنت ادفع النص التاني.
dafaʿt nuṣṣ il-ḥisāb wi-ʾinta idfaʿ in-nuṣṣ it-tāni.
I paid half the bill; you pay the other half—addressed to a man.
ربع الموظفين وربع الموظفات بيشتغلوا من البيت.
rubʿ il-muwaẓẓafīn wi-rubʿ il-muwaẓẓafāt biyishtaghalu min il-bēt.
A quarter of the male employees and a quarter of the female employees work from home.
The fraction does not alternate for the complement’s gender: masculine المرتب and feminine الساعة both follow the same نص. Gender and number remain properties of the noun naming the whole. When that noun is a human plural, plural agreement is natural; with mass الشغل, singular agreement is natural.
Rule 2: use على when there is no familiar fraction word
For an arbitrary mathematical fraction, say the numerator, على, and the denominator. The numerator is a complete cardinal, not a fraction noun. This form is normal when reading measurements, survey results, or a written fraction; it sounds more technical than نص or ربع.
واحد على اتناشر من المشاركين لغوا.
wāḥid ʿala itnāshar min il-mushārkīn laghu.
One twelfth of the participants canceled.
تلاتة على عشرين من الميزانية راح للصيانة.
talāta ʿala ʿishrīn min il-mīzāniyya rāḥ liṣ-ṣiyāna.
Three twentieths of the budget went to maintenance.
In a ratio, everyday speech often uses لـ: اتنين لواحد “two to one.” A distributive sampling ratio uses من كل “out of every”: واحد من كل أربعة “one out of every four.” These constructions express different relations, so English to or a colon should not be translated mechanically.
العرض بيدي نقطتين لكل نقطة قديمة، يعني اتنين لواحد.
il-ʿarḍ biyiddi noʾtitēn li-kull noʾṭa ʾadīma, yaʿni itnēn li-wāḥid.
The offer gives two points for every old point—in other words, two to one.
Rule 3: mixed measures join the whole and fraction with و
With a measure, state the whole amount, the unit, then و plus the fraction: اتنين كيلو ونص “two and a half kilos.” When the whole is one, Egyptian commonly says كيلو ونص, not an explicit واحد كيلو ونص. The unit retains the form required by the whole numeral: ساعتين ونص uses the dual, while تلات ساعات ونص uses a plural after three.
هاتلي كيلو ونص طماطم ونص كيلو بصل.
hātli kīlo wi-nuṣṣ ṭamāṭim wi-nuṣṣ kīlo baṣal.
Get me a kilo and a half of tomatoes and half a kilo of onions.
الاجتماع خد ساعتين ونص.
il-igtimāʿ khad sāʿtēn wi-nuṣṣ.
The meeting took two and a half hours.
Clock time uses the same fraction nouns but a different order. الساعة تلاتة ونص is “three thirty,” while أربعة إلا ربع is “a quarter to four.” See clock time for the full system.
نتقابل الساعة تلاتة ونص ولا أربعة إلا ربع؟
nitʾābil is-sāʿa talāta wi-nuṣṣ walla ʾarbaʿa ʾilla rubʿ?
Shall we meet at three thirty or a quarter to four?
Rule 4: percentages use a full cardinal plus في المية
The everyday expression is numeral + في المية, literally “in the hundred.” A percentage is therefore خمسة في المية “five percent,” not fraction noun خمس “a fifth.” Put من before the population or substance whose share is being measured.
خمسة في المية من الموظفين طلبوا إجازة.
khamsa fi l-miyya min il-muwaẓẓafīn ṭalabu ʾigāza.
Five percent of the employees requested leave.
الخصم خمسين في المية على الشنط دي.
il-khaṣm khamsīn fi l-miyya ʿala sh-shunaṭ di.
The discount is fifty percent on these bags.
In fast connected Cairo speech, في المية often compresses to fil-miyya. Careful speech may preserve a clearer boundary as fi l-miyya. The spelling and grammar remain the same.
زودوا السعر عشرة في المية.
zawwidu s-siʿr ʿashara fil-miyya.
They raised the price by ten percent—natural connected speech.
Do not confuse a relative percentage change with percentage points. A rise from 20% to 30% is عشر نقط مئوية “ten percentage points” (careful/technical), but it is a fifty-percent increase relative to the original value. Ordinary conversation often relies on context; analytical reporting should name the measure.
Price and time in one exchange
الكيلو بكام؟
il-kīlo bi-kām?
How much is a kilo?
بستين جنيه، ولو كيلو ونص يبقى بتسعين.
bi-sittīn ginēh, wi-law kīlo wi-nuṣṣ yibʾa bi-tisʿīn.
Sixty pounds; if it is a kilo and a half, that comes to ninety.
تمام، بس حاجي بعد نص ساعة.
tamām, bass ḥāgi baʿd nuṣṣ sāʿa.
Okay, but I will come in half an hour.
The singular measure nouns كيلو and ساعة do not agree with the fraction. The whole number still controls any special singular, dual, or plural shape before the fraction.
Common Mistakes
Copying English “half of the salary” order
❌ المرتب نص.
Incorrect for the partitive phrase ‘half the salary’; this order instead forms a sentence meaning ‘the salary is half [an expected amount].’
✅ نص المرتب راح للإيجار.
nuṣṣ il-murattab rāḥ lil-ʾīgār.
Half the salary went on rent.
Using the fraction noun for “five percent”
❌ الخصم خمس في المية.
Incorrect—خمس is ‘a fifth,’ not the cardinal ‘five.’
✅ الخصم خمسة في المية.
il-khaṣm khamsa fi l-miyya.
The discount is five percent.
Making a 3–10 fraction plural singular
❌ خلصنا تلات ربع الشغل.
Incorrect—after three, the fraction noun is plural.
✅ خلصنا تلات أرباع الشغل.
khallaṣna talat ʾarbāʿ ish-shoghl.
We finished three quarters of the work.
Importing formal case endings into a Cairo percentage
خمسة في المية من الطلبة وافقوا.
khamsa fi l-miyya min iṭ-ṭalaba wāfaʾu.
khamsatun fī l-miʾati mina ṭ-ṭullābi wāfaqū
Five percent of the students agreed—not an everyday Cairene sentence with MSA case endings.
Key Takeaways
- نص، تلت، ربع، خمس are fraction nouns; their shape is not the same as the matching cardinal.
- Put a fraction before the definite whole: ربع الطلبة. Use على for arbitrary written fractions.
- Mixed measures join a whole and a fraction with و, while the whole numeral still determines the unit’s form.
- Percentages require a full numeral plus في المية; add من before the population being measured.
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