Hrmitt reference grammar
5.3. Fractions
Fractional quantities are expressed by an ablative construction.
Half (1/2).
Three fifths (3/5).
When applied to nouns, a distinction is drawn between animate and inanimate nouns.
5.3.1. Inanimate Nouns
Fractional quantities of an inanimate object use the unmarked noun:
One-eight (1/8) of a spaceship.
Three-sevenths (3/7) of a piece of wood.
When referring to a subset of a larger group of inanimate objects as a fraction, the 4th person plural pronominal suffix is used:
One of eight spaceships.
Three of seven pieces of wood.
5.3.2. Animate Nouns
Animate nouns, however, lack a fractional construction; the referent is always a subset of a larger group:
One of two men (not *half of a man!).
Two of the three girls (not *2/3 of a girl!).
To refer to a fraction of a singular animate noun, a periphrasis using buf "body" is employed:
Half of the man (lit. half of the man's body).
When referring to a subset of more than two animate nouns, the 3PL or 4PL pronominal suffix is employed:
Three of the five men.
Three out of every five men.
The prononimal suffix is obligatory on an animate noun in this case; thus, the following are considered ungrammatical by native speakers:
(Ungrammatical)
(Ungrammatical)