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Fractions and percentages

Fractions and percentages expressed as "parts of the whole"

A 分 之 B
A fen1 zhi1 B
B parts of A parts

五分之一
wu3 fen1 zhi1 yi1
one part of five -- one fifth

Note: In Chinese, the "whole" is always the first number in the expression.
A percentage of the whole is expressed as "parts of one hundred."

百分之四十．
bai3 fen1 zhi1 zi4 shi2.
40%

百分之百．
bai3 fen1 zhi1 bai3.
100%

A fraction of the whole is expressed as " parts of the whole"

四分之一
si4 fen1 zhi yi1
1 part of 4 ... 1/4

三分之二
san1 fen1 zhi1 er4
2 parts of 3 ... 2/3

十分之五
shi2 fen1 zhi1 wu3
5 parts of 10 ... 5/10

Questioning fractions and percentages
The question words (多少 : duo1 shao3) and (几 / 幾 : ji3) are used to ask about the value of a percent or fraction. In the response, a number replaces the question word.

Percentages:

Question:
百分之多少？
bai3 fen1 zhi1 duo1 shao3?
what percent?

Answer:
百分之八十．
bai3 fen1 zhi1 ba1 shi2.
80%

Fractions:

A 分之几？
A 分之幾？
A fen1 zhi1 ji3?

Question：
五分之几？
五分之幾？
wu3 fen1 zhi1 ji3?
How many fifths?

Answer:
五分之三．
wu3 fen1 zhi1 san1.

Decimal fractions
Decimal fractions are expressed by ( 点/點 : dian3 ) followed by the decimal number.
The decimal number is read as a series of individual digits.
Note: if a number begins with a decimal point, it may be preceded by ( 〇 : ling2)

.75
( 〇 ) 点七五．
( 〇 ) 點七五．
( ling2 ) dian3 qi1 wu3

1.8
一点八．
一點八．
yi1 dian3 ba1

Discounts: percentage of total price
Discounts are expressed as the percentage of the original price of merchandise or service as follows:
Number + ( 折 : zhe2 )

九折
9 折
jiu3 zhe2
10% off

二点五折
2.5 折
er4 dian3 wu3 zhe2
75% off

三到四折
3 - 4 折
san1 dao4 si4 zhe2
60% - 70% off

The question word (几 / 幾 : ji3) is used to ask the percentage of the discount.

打几折？
打幾折？
da3 ji3 zhe2?
Percentage of discount?

我给你打七折．
我給你打七折．
wo3 gei3 ni3 da3 qi1 zhe2．
I give you 30% discount.

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