Chinese Conversation · Level 19
90 words
Chinese word
差不多
Pronunciation
Pinyinchà bu duō
Meaning
- adverbabout
Example
今天差不多要下雨了。jīn tiān chà bu duō yào xià yǔ le
It's about to rain today.
More examples
现在差不多十点了，我们该睡觉了。xiàn zài chà bu duō shí diǎn le wǒ men gāi shuì jiào le
It's about ten o'clock now, so we should go to sleep.
Core concept
A target is near enough to count as reached, either because two things are close or because an event is almost complete.
Common phrases
差不多十点chà bu duō shí diǎn
about ten o'clock
差不多完成了chà bu duō wán chéng le
almost finished
差不多一样chà bu duō yí yàng
almost the same
Similar words
大约dà yuē: Places a number or time within a general range rather than giving an exact figure.
大概dà gài: Expresses a general estimate about a situation or the chance of an event.
几乎jī hū: Indicates that something has come very close to a state or result.
Definition in Chinese
表示对事物状态的近似判断，意味着大致相同或足以认为接近，常见于口语的估计和比较用法biǎo shì duì shì wù zhuàng tài de jìn sì pàn duàn yì wèi zhe dà zhì xiāng tóng huò zú yǐ rèn wéi jiē jìn cháng jiàn yú kóu yǔ de gū jì hé bǐ jiào yòng fǎ
Word origin
The components 差 (chà, "difference") + 不 (bù, "not") + 多 (duō, "much") give 差不多 (chàbuduō, "not much difference") its central idea of a gap that is small enough to overlook.
Usage tips
- English speakers should not limit this word to unfinished events, because it also compares amounts, times, or qualities that are close to each other.
Other meanings
- almostadverb
Opposites
- 正好zhèng hǎoexactlyadverb
- 刚好gāng hǎoexactlyadverb