Introduction
This
post is about Spanish fractions* in
general, and fraction un tercio in particular.
SCENARIO
Imagine you are in
a bar having a drink with with a relative, a friend or a work
colleague.
Hearing
someone order a “tercio
de cerveza”,
the other person says to you:
tell
me, what is a “tercio”?
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿qué es un tercio?
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿qué es un tercio?
OUR
TIP
The
question is quite straightforward. You should be able to answer that
question with relative ease.
Remember
that the main meaning of the word “tercio” is, a
third. As it happens, a third of a litre (33 cl.) is also a very
common size of beer bottle. It is for that reason that in many parts
“un tercio de cerveza”1 is how people refer to
a medium size bottle of beer.
With
that in mind, you could say:
- Un tercio equivale a la fracción 1/3 (“un tercio” equals the fraction 1/3);
- Un tercio de litro es la tercera parte de un litro (a “tercio de litro” is a third of a litre);
- Aquí, un tercio de cerveza es la tercera parte de un litro de cerveza (here a “tercio de cerveza” is a third of a litre of beer);
- Aquí, un tercio de cerveza es una botella mediana de cerveza (here a “tercio de cerveza” is a medium-sized bottle of beer);
Notes
1
– Please note that the terms used to refer to specific types and
quantities of beer tend to vary from place to place. Although the
33cl bottle is pretty much standard, that bottle may well be better
known by a name other than a “tercio” in some places. The
bar we refer to in this post is a place where “un tercio”
is accepted terminology. The use of “aquí” (here)
in some of the answers indicates that, whilst a “tercio
de cerveza” is a locally accepted term, it might not be
so somewhere else.
Now
you should practise answering the question:
Dime,
¿qué es un tercio?
*See
some commonly used Spanish fractions below
*Spanish
Fractions
A list
of commonly used Spanish fractions is shown in Table 1 below:
- EnglishNounAdjective
one/ a half un medio medio
media
la mitadone/ a third un tercio la tercera parte one/ a quarter un cuarto la cuarta parte one/ a fifth un quinto la quinta parte one/ a sixth un sexto la sexta parte one/ a seventh un séptimo la séptima parte one/ a eight un octavo la octava parte one/ a ninth un noveno la novena parte one/a tenth un décimo la décima parte one/a eleventh un onceavo la onceava parte
la undécima parteone/a twelfth un doceavo la doceava parte
la duodécima parteone/a thirteenth un treceavo la treceava parte one/ a fourteenth un catorceavo la catorceava parte one/ a fifteenth un quinceavo la quinceava parte one/ a sixteenth un dieciseisavo la dieciseisava parte one/a seventeenth un diecisieteavo la diecisieteava parte one/ a eighteenth un dieciochoavo la dieciochoava parte one/ a nineteenth un diecinueveavo la diecinueveava parte one/ a twentieth un veinteavo la veinteava parte one/ a hundredth un centésimo
una centésimala centésima parte one/ a thousandth un milésimo
una milésimala milésima parte one/ a millionth un millonésimo
una millonésimala millonésima parte
Table
1 – Spanish Fractions
