LEARN + CHINESE / 114 of 300 HSK 3
Give a Ballpark Number例 · 我们下午三点左右开会
You know the meeting starts around three, but you haven’t checked the exact time. Chinese has several easy ways to give a rough estimate: put 左右 or 前后 after a number, use 大约/大概 before it, or say two neighboring numbers together.
我们下午三点左右开会。
wǒmen xiàwǔ sān diǎn zuǒyòu kāihuì.
We’ll have the meeting at around three in the afternoon.
教室里大约有四十个学生。
jiàoshì lǐ dàyuē yǒu sìshí ge xuésheng.
There are about forty students in the classroom.
从这里到车站要二十分钟前后。
cóng zhèlǐ dào chēzhàn yào èrshí fēnzhōng qiánhòu.
It takes about twenty minutes to get from here to the station.
新学校有两三百名学生。
xīn xuéxiào yǒu liǎng sān bǎi míng xuésheng.
The new school has two or three hundred students.
Hint · 힌트
左右 usually follows the number: 三点左右. 大约 and 大概 come before it: 大约四十个. When you say neighboring numbers like 两三百, the estimate is a range rather than an exact total.
Vocabulary
| Chinese | English |
|---|---|
zuǒyòu | approximately; around |
qiánhòu | approximately; around |
dàyuē | about; approximately |
dàgài | roughly; probably |
liǎng sān bǎi | two or three hundred |
xiàwǔ | afternoon |
sān diǎn | three o’clock |
kāihuì | to have a meeting |
jiàoshì | classroom |
sìshí | forty |
xuésheng | student |
chēzhàn | station |
fēnzhōng | minute |
xīn xuéxiào | new school |
míng | measure word for people |
jǐ tiān | a few days |
shí lái ge | a little over ten |
chàbuduō | about; nearly |
shùliàng | quantity; amount |
gūjì | to estimate |
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