نیم و نصف: when to use these?
How do I tell the difference as to when I use those two words with numbers and amounts? The book I'm using does not clearly answer this question.
Thanks!
I think there isn't any clear definition. Mostly they have same usage, but to know the differences I think the only way is you read more texts. Then you can know in every case which one is more suitable.
Some examples:
About hours we use نیم not نصف
نیم ساعت دیگه میام
ساعت الآن ده و نیمه
but نصف ساعت seems wrong
نصف آب رو خالی کن
نیمی از آب رو خالی کن
In this case both of them are correct, but in colloquial conversations the first one seems better.
نصف راهو رفتیم
نیمی از راهو رفتیم
نصف اونو بده من
نیمی از اونو بده به من
In colloquial way the first one seems better again
سادندویچو دو نصف کن
ساندویچو دو نیم کن
نیمه شب
نصف شب
Look at these compound words:
نیمروز، نیم فاصله، نیمسال، نیم تنه
We don't use نصف in these cases.
I hope it helped.
September 16, 2014
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They are synonyms, meaning half [of].
نصف is a loan word from Arabic, so it might be better to use نیم.
Also, there's a slight difference in the common usage:
half the books/money = نیمی از کتابها/پول = نصفِ کتابها/پول
September 16, 2014
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January 28, 2015
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