Here are some of the common ways of
expressing approximations in Spanish. Although English equivalents
are listed, keep in mind that nearly all of these terms except for casi/"almost" are synonymous, so when
translating to English you should translate on the basis of context
and meaning rather than always using the word listed as the
equivalent.
|
Spanish
|
Meaning or English equivalent
|
Example
|
|
aproximadamente
|
approximately
|
El diccionario ofrece traducciones de aproximadamente 5.500
términos. The dictionary provides translations of approximately
5,500 terms.
|
|
como (more common in Latin America)
|
about
|
Estuve malo como cuatro meses. I was sick for about four
months.
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|
más o menos
|
more or less
|
He perdido, más o menos, seis kilos y en muy poco
tiempo. I have lost more or less six kilograms and in very
little time.
|
|
a eso de (used most commonly with times)
|
about
|
A eso de las 16:00 la clínica estará abierta.
At about 4 p.m. the clinic will be open.
|
|
casi
|
almost
|
Casi 3 de cada 100 emails enviados en España este
año contenía virus. Almost 3 out of each 100
email letters sent in Spain this year included a virus.
|
|
cerca de
|
close to
|
México tiene cerca de cinco millones de
ciberusuarios. Mexico has close to five million cyber-users.
|
|
alrededor de
|
around
|
Alrededor de una docena de referencias citadas en el trabajo
no aparecen en la bibliografía. Around a dozen
references cited in the work don't appear in the bibliography.
|
|
unos, unas
|
some
|
Costó unos 5.000 pesos. It cost some 5,000 pesos.
|
|
o así
|
or so
|
Has jugado al juego "teléfono"? Reúnes una docena de gente o
así en un círculo y la primera persona le susurra un mensaje al segundo. Have you played the game "telephone"? You bring together a dozen people or so and the first person whisphers a message to the second.
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