Almost (几乎)
几乎
The adverb 几乎 (jīhū) means "almost," "nearly," or "practically" and indicates that something is very close to being complete, true, or happening.
Pattern
Subject + 几乎 + Verb/Adjective
Explanation
几乎 is an adverb meaning "almost" or "nearly." It can modify verbs, adjectives, or entire clauses to indicate that something is very close to a particular state but not quite there. It is more formal than 差不多 and is used in both spoken and written Chinese.
几乎 can express nearness in quantity (几乎所有人 — almost everyone), degree (几乎完美 — almost perfect), or proximity to an event occurring (几乎迟到了 — almost was late). When used with past events, it often implies that something narrowly did or did not happen.
Compare with 差不多 (chàbuduō): 差不多 is more colloquial and can also mean "more or less" or "good enough," while 几乎 specifically means "almost" and has a more precise, formal tone. 几乎 also tends to emphasize how close something came to an extreme.
Examples
几乎所有人都来了。
Jīhū suǒyǒu rén dōu lái le.
Almost everyone came.
他几乎每天都去跑步。
Tā jīhū měi tiān dōu qù pǎobù.
He goes running almost every day.
我几乎忘了这件事。
Wǒ jīhū wàng le zhè jiàn shì.
I almost forgot about this.
这两个词的意思几乎一样。
Zhè liǎng gè cí de yìsi jīhū yíyàng.
The meaning of these two words is almost the same.
她几乎不吃肉。
Tā jīhū bù chī ròu.
She almost never eats meat.
几乎不 = almost never/hardly
Common Mistakes
Wrong
他几乎了迟到。
Correct
他几乎迟到了。
几乎 goes before the verb. 了 attaches to the verb, not to 几乎.
Wrong
几乎人都来了。
Correct
几乎所有人都来了。
When modifying a noun group, 几乎 needs a quantifier like 所有 (all) or 每个 (every).
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