くらい / ぐらい Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: About / Approximately / To that extent
Construction:
- Number + Counter + くらい
- E.g. 4枚くらい [About 4 pages]
- Demonstrative Pronoun + くらい
- E.g. これくらい [About this much]
- E.g. それくらい [About that much]
- E.g. あれくらい [About that much]
- E.g. どれくらい [About how much?]
- Demonstrative Adjective + くらい
- E.g. このくらい [To about this extent]
- E.g. そのくらい [To about that extent]
- E.g. あのくらい [To about that extent]
- E.g. どのくらい [To about what extent?]
- Interrogative Pronoun + くらい
- E.g. いくらくらい [About how much?]
Notes:
- くらい is used to refer to an approximate quantity or extent. With a physical quantity, Xくらい is equivalent to saying “Approximately X” or “About X“. With an extent, Xくらい is equivalent to saying “To X extent” or “To the extent of X“.
- E.g. Quantity: 東京からサンフランシスコまで飛行機で九時間ぐらいかかる。[It takes about 9 hours to go from Tokyo to San Fransisco by airplane.]
- E.g. Extent: 山田さんぐらい英語ができれば楽しいでしょうね。[If I could speak English about to the extent that Yamada-san can, that would be fun.]
- Demonstrative pronouns (e.g. これ [This], あれ [That], それ [That], どれ [Which]) and demonstrative adjectives (e.g. この [This X], あの [That X], その [That X], どの [Which X]) are basically used interchangeably when paired with くらい. However, there is a slight tendency for demonstrative pronouns to be used with quantities (e.g. number of physical objects) and for demonstrative adjectives to be used with extents (e.g. periods of time, distance between places).
- E.g. 私だってそれぐらいのことはわかりますよ。[Even I can’t understand things of that extent.]
- E.g. 私だってそのぐらいのことはわかりますよ。[Even I can’t understand things of that extent.]
- くらい and ぐらい are totally interchangeable. In many cases, ぐらい simply rolls off the tongue better than くらい.
Example Sentences:
東京からサンフランシスコまで飛行機で九時間ぐらいかかる。[It takes about 9 hours to go from Tokyo to San Fransisco by airplane.]
A: その車はいくらぐらいでしたか。B: 150万くらいでした。[A: About how much was that car? B: It was about 15,000 USD. ]
スミスさんは京都に4ヶ月くらい行っていました。[Mr. Smith was in Kyoto for about 4 months.]
山田さんぐらい英語ができれば楽しいでしょうね。[If I could speak English about to the extent that Yamada-san can, that would be fun.]
私だってそれぐらいのことはわかりますよ。[Even I can’t understand things of that extent.]
WILD Examples:
***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***