The Chinese are famously pretty vague in giving answers. As most will readily admit, they prefer to offer estimations rather than specifics, especially if there may be consequences involved. Instead of getting frustrated, we straight-talking foreigners can benefit from adopting the “vague” approach ourselves.
In order to help give your own answers an authentic air of enigma, here are four ways to say “roughly speaking”, “about” or “probably” in Mandarin.
1. 左右 zuǒyòu
左右 literally means “left right”, which is a fun way to express “around about”. Add this word after your response to emphasize it’s an approximation.
1. Tā shí suì zuǒyòu
她十岁左右
She’s 10 years old, give or take
2. Nà ge xiāngzi hěn zhòng, bāshí gōngjīn zuǒyòu
那个箱子很重,八十公斤左右
That box is heavy, about 80kg
2. 大概 dàgài
大概 includes the character 概/gài, which means “general” or “approximate”. It’s mostly interchangeable with左右 and means “around about” and also “probably”. Note that you use it before the object of your approximation.
1. (Nà’er) lí zhè’er dàgài yǒu èrshí fēnzhōng chēchéng
(那儿) 离这儿大概有二十分钟车程
It’s probably a 20-minute drive from here (to there)
2. Tā dàgài yǐjīng wǎnle sānshí fēnzhōng
她大概已经晚了三十分钟
She’s already about half an hour late
3. Zhè dàgài shì jiàn hǎoshì
这大概是件好事
This is probably a good thing
3. 应该 yīnggāi
This is a great word for when you’re really not ready to commit to a yes, no or exact response! 应该 means “ought to be” or “should be about”. Warning: In my experience, if you hear this word used as reassurance, such as “It’s probably going to be OK”, it might actually be a hint that all is NOT fine…
1. Wèntí bù dà. Yīnggāi jiù kuài hǎole
问题不大。应该就快好了
It’s not a big problem. It ought to be fixed shortly
2. Yīnggāi kěyǐ
应该可以
You should be able to do that / It’s probably OK
3. Tā yīnggāi kuài dàole
他应该快到了
He’ll probably arrive soon
4. 前后 qiánhòu
This is a word that indicates that the time given is “around about” or a during a period of time. For example:
1. Bǎobao de yùchǎnqí shì sì yuè 9 hào qiánhòu
宝宝的预产期是四月9号前后
The baby is due around April 9th
2. Wǒmen yùjì xīndiàn huì zài liù yuè qiánhòu kāiyè
我们预计新店会在六月前后开业
We anticipate the new shop will open around June
Source:Dig Mandarin
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