English–Japanese
“about” in Japanese
How to say “about” in Japanese
“About” in Japanese is ほど (hodo).
The adverb ほど (hodo) presents a quantity or duration as a rough measure of its extent.
Example sentences with ほど
三十分ほど歩きます。san jip pun ho do aru ki ma su
I walk for about thirty minutes.
この荷物は三キロほどあります。ko no ni motsu wa san ki ro ho do a ri ma su
This luggage weighs about three kilograms.
Tips for using ほど
- The repeated form ほどほど (hodohodo) means "moderately," linking this word to the idea of a suitable degree.
Other Japanese words for “about”
十人程度来ます。jū nin tei do ki ma su
About ten people are coming.
十人くらいいます。jū nin ku ra i i ma su
There are about ten people.
駅まで約十分です。eki ma de yaku jip pun de su
It is about ten minutes to the station.
およそ一時間かかります。o yo so ichi ji kan ka ka ri ma su
It takes about one hour.
おおよそ十人が来ます。ō yo so jū nin ga ki ma su
About ten people are coming.
今日はだいたい五時に帰ります。kyō wa da i ta i go ji ni kae ri ma su
I will go home at about five today.