Breakdown of Три целых четырнадцать сотых — это очень известная дробь.
это
this / it is
очень
very
известный
famous
три
three
четырнадцать
fourteen
целый
whole, entire
дробь
fraction
сотый
hundredth
Questions & Answers about Три целых четырнадцать сотых — это очень известная дробь.
Why do we use the genitive plural for both целых and сотых?
These words are adjectives acting as nouns, representing 'whole parts' and 'hundredth parts'. Fractions in Russian imply the feminine noun доля (portion). After the number три, feminine adjectives take the genitive plural in mathematical contexts. For сотых, the number четырнадцать (14) requires all following adjectives and nouns to be in the genitive plural anyway.
If fractions imply a feminine noun, does that change how we say the numbers themselves?
Yes! Because the hidden word доля is feminine, you must use feminine forms for any numbers that change by gender. For example, if this fraction started with a 2, you would say две целых, using the feminine две instead of the masculine два.
Why is there a dash and the word это in the middle of the sentence?
When both the subject (the decimal) and the predicate (the noun дробь) are in the nominative case, Russian uses a dash to stand in for the present-tense verb 'to be'. Adding это is optional but very common in definitions or equations to make the connection clearer, acting almost like a spoken equals sign.
How can I tell the gender of the word дробь?
The adjective известная (famous) has a feminine ending, which gives it away! The word дробь (fraction) is a feminine noun. While nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) can be masculine or feminine and often just need to be memorized, looking at the surrounding adjectives is a great trick to figure it out in context.
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