分之

fēnzhī

particle HSK 4 #42,863

Meanings

Used in fractions: X 分之 Y means 'Y out of X parts' = Y/X. The denominator comes first.

三分之一的学生是女生。

Sān fēn zhī yī de xuéshēng shì nǚshēng.

One third of the students are female.

百分之八十的人同意了。

Bǎi fēn zhī bāshí de rén tóngyì le.

Eighty percent of people agreed.

他只喝了四分之一杯水。

Tā zhǐ hē le sì fēn zhī yī bēi shuǐ.

He only drank a quarter of a glass of water.

grammar

Chinese fractions are reversed from English: denominator + 分之 + numerator. So 三分之二 (3 parts, of which 2) = two-thirds. 百分之 means 'percent'.

memory

Think of it as 'out of X parts, take Y': 三分之一 = 'out of 3 parts, take 1' = one third.

分 fēn

之 zhī