大概
probably; approximately; general idea
HSK level
- Pinyin
- dàgài
- Part of speech
- adverb
- Level
- HSK 4
- Strokes
- 16
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 大概
大概 is written with 16 strokes (大: 3, 概: 13). The animation replays automatically.
What does 大概 mean?
大概 (dàgài) is an adverb meaning 'probably,' 'approximately,' or 'roughly,' used to hedge a statement or estimate a quantity.
As an adverb it comes before the verb — 他大概忘了 (Tā dàgài wàng le, 'He probably forgot') — or before a number to mean 'about': 大概三十个人 ('about thirty people'). It can also be a noun or adjective meaning 'the general idea / gist' (大概的意思, 'the rough meaning'). English speakers should note that 大概 blends two English senses that feel separate to us — the epistemic 'probably' (a guess about truth) and the quantitative 'about' (an estimate of amount) — into one word chosen by context.
It is neutral in register and extremely common in speech. Compare 也许 (yěxǔ, 'maybe'), which expresses more uncertainty, and 差不多 (chàbuduō, 'more or less'), which stresses closeness.
Character by character
Memory hook: 'Big general' → the big-picture, general estimate: roughly, probably.
Hear 大概 in real episodes
大概 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Browse the full episode libraryExample sentences
他大概不会来了。
Tā dàgài bú huì lái le.
He probably won't come.
spoken
从这儿到机场大概要一个小时。
Cóng zhèr dào jīchǎng dàgài yào yí ge xiǎoshí.
It takes about an hour from here to the airport.
neutral
我只知道个大概。
Wǒ zhǐ zhīdào ge dàgài.
I only know the general idea.
spoken
这本书大概有三百页。
Zhè běn shū dàgài yǒu sānbǎi yè.
This book has roughly three hundred pages.
neutral
Common phrases with 大概
Synonyms
大约 leans more toward quantitative estimation ('approximately') and is slightly more formal. 大概 covers both 'approximately' and 'probably' and is more common in casual speech.
也许 means 'maybe / perhaps' and expresses more genuine uncertainty. 大概 signals a fairly confident guess; 也许 signals you really don't know.
Don't confuse 大概 with
FAQ
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