Fractions, Decimals, and Approximation

Fractions and approximate quantities do more than name an amount: they determine the form of the noun after them and often influence agreement elsewhere in the sentence. English usually hides this structure behind of or an unchanged noun phrase; Serbian makes it visible through the genitive, the special 2–4 pattern, and several competing agreement patterns.

A half: пола, половина, and и по

Пола is an uninflected quantity word followed by the genitive. With a countable unit it normally takes the genitive singular; with a substance or a plural group, the form is whichever genitive the meaning requires: пола сата, пола хлеба, пола ученика. The whole phrase behaves as a quantity, so a singular neuter predicate is the safest neutral agreement when no lexical head controls it.

Половина is an ordinary feminine noun meaning “a half.” It declines, and the measured whole follows in the genitive. Because половина is the grammatical head, singular feminine agreement is the regular choice: половина је стигла, велика половина. With human groups, semantic plural agreement can occur in actual usage, but learners should master grammatical singular agreement first.

To add a half to a whole number, Serbian uses и по. The integer still determines the noun form: сат и по, два и по сата, but пет и по сати. In an accusative time expression, the first unit can visibly show the accusative: годину и по.

Other fractions

Most everyday fraction names are feminine nouns ending in -ина: трећина “one third,” четвртина “one quarter,” петина “one fifth,” and so on. The denominator declines as a noun. A numerator of two to four triggers the familiar special form, while five and above require genitive plural:

The thing divided follows the fraction noun in the genitive: трећина торте, две трећине буџета. Agreement usually follows the fraction expression: singular with једна трећина, the 2–4 pattern with две трећине, and singular neuter with quantities headed by five or more.

In recipes and informal measurement, четврт also occurs in expressions such as четврт сата “a quarter of an hour.” Четвртина сата is equally clear and morphologically more transparent.

Decimals in writing and speech

Serbian writes a decimal comma: 3,5, not English 3.5. In careful mathematical reading, 3,5 is три цела и пет десетих: the whole-number word agrees with understood цела and the fractional part names tenths, hundredths, or thousandths. In ordinary speech, speakers commonly say три запета пет. Both are standard, but the full fractional reading is more characteristic of mathematics and careful dictation.

The noun form depends on how the decimal is construed and read. In the full fractional reading, the fraction noun takes a partitive genitive singular, as in нула целих и двадесет пет стотих милиметра above. In the common запета + digits reading, the final decimal component normally controls the counted noun: 1,2 метра, but 2,5 килограма and 1,7 метара. Thus the whole-number part is not the controller, and 2,5 килограми is wrong. For a full review of reading conventions, see Reading Numbers Aloud.

Percentages

Проценат is an ordinary masculine noun and follows the core counting pattern: један проценат, два процента, пет процената. The group being measured is genitive: пет процената испитаника, двадесет процената буџета. In continuous prose, style guides may prefer words for small round values; tables and reports naturally use the symbol %.

With percentages, agreement often treats the entire quantity as a measurement, especially at five and above: пет процената је одговорило or пет процената испитаника је одговорило. When people are prominent, plural agreement is also found. This variation is real; it is not a license to mix noun forms. The counted phrase after пет remains genitive plural either way.

Ways to say “about”

Serbian distinguishes several registers and shades of approximation:

Forms in -ак are approximate nouns and take a genitive complement: десетак минута, двадесетак страна, стотинак евра. For a narrow range, a hyphenated pair is idiomatic: два-три дана, пет-шест месеци. The second numeral determines the overt noun form, so два-три дана has the 2–4 form, while четири-пет дана has genitive plural because the range ends in five.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Make the measured phrase

Say “half an hour,” “two and a half years,” “five and a half years,” and “three quarters of the budget.” Then explain which word controls сата, године, година, and буџета.

Task 2: Report approximate figures

Turn 3,5 km, about 20% of respondents, and roughly a hundred guests into complete Serbian sentences. Use one decimal reading, око, and one noun in -ак.

Common Mistakes

English speakers often keep the noun in an ordinary plural or copy English decimal punctuation. Serbian instead lets the quantity expression govern the phrase.

Key Takeaways

• Пола, fraction nouns, percentages, and approximate number nouns normally lead into a genitive phrase.
• The integer still matters in expressions with и по: 2–4 and 5+ do not take the same noun form.
• Serbian uses a decimal comma; careful and everyday decimal readings differ.
• Approximation can be prepositional (око), adverbial (отприлике), or lexical (десетак).