# Hầu như / gần như: almost / hardly any in Vietnamese

> Gần như means "almost, nearly" and goes before the verb or adjective: Em gần như quên hết rồi. I've almost completely forgotten.

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/hau-nhu-almost/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**almost / hardly any**

Pattern: `gần như / hầu như + [verb or adjective] · hầu như không + [verb]`

Level: B1 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: hau nhu, gan nhu

*Gần như* means "almost, nearly" and goes before the verb or adjective: *Em gần như quên hết rồi.* I've almost completely forgotten. It describes a state that's nearly complete or nearly true: *Quán gần như hết chỗ.* The place is almost full.

*Hầu như* means the same and sounds a little more written, but two uses are common in speech. With *không*, it's "hardly, almost never": *Tôi hầu như không ăn thịt.* I hardly eat meat. With *ngày nào cũng* and the like, it's "almost every": *Hầu như ngày nào em cũng uống cà phê.* I have coffee almost every day.

Before *xong* (done) or a time, plain *gần* is enough: *gần xong* (nearly done), *gần mười giờ* (nearly ten o'clock).

*Suýt* is different: it's for something that nearly happened, once, and then didn't happen at all. *Em suýt trễ* means I was nearly late, but I wasn't. And for "most" before a noun, the word is *hầu hết*, not *hầu như*.

## A common mistake

✗ Hầu như sinh viên đi làm thêm.

✓ Hầu hết sinh viên đi làm thêm.

Before a plain noun, "most" is *hầu hết*. *Hầu như* goes before a verb or an adjective, or before *… nào cũng*: *hầu như ngày nào cũng*.

## Examples

- Em gần như quên hết rồi. — I've almost completely forgotten.
- Tôi hầu như không ăn thịt. — I hardly eat meat.
- Hầu như ngày nào em cũng uống cà phê. — I have coffee almost every day.
- Quán gần như hết chỗ. — The place is almost full.

## Compare

- [Nearly happened: suýt (nữa thì)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/suyt-nearly/): nearly, almost (but didn't)
- [Most: hầu hết](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/hau-het-most/): most

Previous in Saying no and not: [Not clearly vs not exactly: nói không rõ / không nói rõ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/negation-manner/)
Next in Saying no and not: [Emphatic not: không có + verb](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/khong-co-emphatic/)

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