Conveying Fractions

[Zolarius]

I was installing something today and was idly counting off the percentages in Japanese. When the meter struck 33% I wanted to say "One-third complete."

How do you convey fractions in Japanese?

よろしくお願いします。

[Javizy]

Fractions are conveyed by using 分(ぶん) 'part'. You may already be familiar with 半分(はんぶん) 'half'. As usual, everything is backwards in Japanese, so it's not one third, it's third's one.

三分の一 (さんぶんのいち) 1/3
五分の二 (ごぶんのに) 2/5

I am not sure if there are any abbreviations, English symbols seem to be used for other things like percentage and decimals, so maybe the 1/3 format is common too.

Incidentally, decimals are expressed with 点(てん), which usually means 'spot' or 'dot'. The numbers after the decimal point are expressed the same as English, for example, 1.345 is said as one-point-three-four-five rather than one-point-three-hundred-and-forty-five.

3.5 - さんてんご
5.75 - ごてんななご

[Zolarius]

ありがとうございます。

That cleared up quite a few questions.

Thanks again!

[jemstone]

Fractions are conveyed by using 分(ぶん) 'part'. You may already be familiar with 半分(はんぶん) 'half'. As usual, everything is backwards in Japanese, so it's not one third, it's third's one.

三分の一 (さんぶんのいち) 1/3
五分の二 (ごぶんのに) 2/5

i was reading this and can't help but think of the ふん and ぶん that were used in telling the minutes of the time. do the same irregularities apply for conveying fractions?

ie, いぷん　にふん　さんぷん　よんふん　ごふん　ろぷん　ななふん　はぷん　きゅふん　じゅぷん

[Javizy]

ぶん is a different word from minutes, it's a cardinal counter for parts, it just happens to use the same character. Now that you mention it, it is quite confusing.

To be honest, I haven't seen fractions used outside of my grammar dictionary, which was pretty brief in explaining them. I don't think that there are any exceptions with the pronunciation, since ぶん attaches nicely to each of the numbers.

分(ぶん) on its own means part or share, it's used in today's lesson. This might help you distinguish it from minutes。

[jemstone]

そうですね

i was trying to find the lesson but could only find something abt yakuza and his hello kitty, and lost saifu and kasa... couldn't find the "ぶん" lesson.

but thanks for the explanation on ぶん being the cardinal counter for parts. that cleared up some for me too =)

[sphere]

ぶん is a different word from minutes, it's a cardinal counter for parts, it just happens to use the same character. Now that you mention it, it is quite confusing.

hmm... I thought that the "pronunciation" is the same. Since the hun vs pun vs bun seems more like a function of phonetics than meaning (meaning that in similar "sounding" situation, similar rules are often applied).

Come to think of it, is the word/meaning really different? tot that the original use of "minute" for the clock face is to express it in factions seems likely doesn't it? interesting... hope that any people who knows the truth can help to affirm/contradict these speculations.

regards

[markdweaver]

Fractions always use ぶん

Minutes always us ふん or ぷん

Here's a nice website for counters:

http://www.nnj.co.jp/P/002/

[Javizy]

ぶん is a different word from minutes, it's a cardinal counter for parts, it just happens to use the same character. Now that you mention it, it is quite confusing.

hmm... I thought that the "pronunciation" is the same. Since the hun vs pun vs bun seems more like a function of phonetics than meaning (meaning that in similar "sounding" situation, similar rules are often applied).

The pronunciation does remain the same; it stays as ぶん regardless of the number it's attached to. This should have been apparent from my 1/5 example, which is pronounced ５ぶん and not ５ふん. Seriously, there's no need for sarcasm.

[sphere]

The pronunciation does remain the same; it stays as ぶん regardless of the number it's attached to. This should have been apparent from my 1/5 example, which is pronounced ５ぶん and not ５ふん. Seriously, there's no need for sarcasm.

No sarcasm was intended blame it on the inadequate expressions of the media. I was just voicing my own questions and doubts. When I said that I tot it's the same, I never said I'm correct. I truly tot it was the same but I now stand corrected. Thanks for the info and link!

[Javizy]

The pronunciation does remain the same; it stays as ぶん regardless of the number it's attached to. This should have been apparent from my 1/5 example, which is pronounced ５ぶん and not ５ふん. Seriously, there's no need for sarcasm.

No sarcasm was intended blame it on the inadequate expressions of the media. I was just voicing my own questions and doubts. When I said that I tot it's the same, I never said I'm correct. I truly tot it was the same but I now stand corrected. Thanks for the info and link!

No problem. The people on the other forums I use are jerks, so maybe I'm a bit too used to being on the defensive