# Khoảng / chừng: approximately in Vietnamese (A2)

> To give a rough number, put khoảng in front of it: khoảng mười người (about ten people), khoảng hai trăm ngàn (about 200,000; in Hà Nội nghìn).

Source: https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/khoang-about/ · Updated 2026-10-17

**approximately**

Pattern: `khoảng / chừng / độ + [number]`

Level: A2 (our estimate) · Register: everyday

Typed without accents: khoang, chung

Variants:

- khoảng chừng

To give a rough number, put *khoảng* in front of it: *khoảng mười người* (about ten people), *khoảng hai trăm ngàn* (about 200,000; in Hà Nội *nghìn*). With clock times it means "around": *khoảng bảy giờ*. It's the word you can use anywhere, in a chat or in a report.

You'll also hear *chừng* and *độ* in the same place, with the same meaning: *chừng mười phút*, *độ hai tuần*. They're more casual than *khoảng*. *Khoảng chừng* puts two together, for a figure you're really not sure of.

To ask for a rough figure, put *khoảng* before *bao nhiêu*, *bao lâu* or *mấy*: *Đi khoảng bao lâu?* About how long does it take?

In speech, another way to be vague is to say two numbers in a row: *hai ba ngày* (two or three days), *năm sáu người* (five or six people). No word goes between them.

*Khoảng* covers both sides of the number. To say the real figure is above it, below it or just short of it, use *hơn*, *dưới* or *gần* instead.

## Examples

- Saigon: Từ nhà em tới trường khoảng mười phút. | Hà Nội: Từ nhà em đến trường khoảng mười phút. — It's about ten minutes from my place to school.
- Saigon: Khoảng bảy giờ anh qua đón em nha. | Hà Nội: Khoảng bảy giờ anh sang đón em nhé. — I'll come and pick you up around seven.
- Đi taxi ra sân bay khoảng bao nhiêu tiền? — Roughly how much is a taxi to the airport?
- Tiệc có chừng hai mươi người thôi. — There'll only be about twenty people at the party.
- Em đi Đà Lạt hai ba ngày. — I'm going to Đà Lạt for two or three days.

## Words in this pattern

- [chừng](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/chung-about/#s_chung_about): about
- [cỡ](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/co-size/#s_co_about): about
- [khoảng](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/words/khoang-about/#s_khoang_about): about

## Compare

- [More than, under, nearly + number: hơn, dưới, gần](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/hon-number-more-than/): over / under / almost (amounts)
- [About (a topic): về](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/ve-about/): about
- [Ten-something, twenty-something: mười mấy, hai mươi mấy, mấy chục](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/muoi-may-ten-something/): in the teens, twenties; dozens of

Previous in Things, counting and numbers: [A number of, some: một số](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/mot-so/)
Next in Things, counting and numbers: [All: tất cả (các)](https://vietnamesebuddy.com/grammar/tat-ca-all/)

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