ぐらい and ごろ
Quick Guide
Number + Counter ぐらい – About this many
Time + ごろ – Around this time
This page is about expressing approximate amounts and approximate times.
ぐらい (Amount)
About (amount)
Amount + ぐらい/くらい
ぐらい is added after a number + counter to indicate “about“. It is about quantity.
Examples
- 10人ぐらいきた – about 10 people came
- ネズミをじゅっぴきぐらいつかまえた – Caught about 10 rats.
- 20さつぐらいよんだ – Read about 20 books.
ぐらい and くらい
ぐらい is sometimes くらい instead. Most of the time it’s ぐらい.
You should use ぐらい after basically everything except あの、その、この, and どの. (later topic)
Even if you mess up and say ぐらい instead of くらい, no one will care or even notice.
Source
ごろ (Time)
Around (time)
Time + ごろ
ごろ is added to the end of a time to indicate “around“, i.e. an approximate time.
Examples
- 10時半ごろ – Around 10:30
- 12月ごろ – Around December
- 2011年ごろ – Around 2011
Units of Time
Years (as counters) use ぐらい and not ごろ, because you are talking about amounts and not a particular time.
Specific years will use ごろ
I.E. “3 years” uses ぐらい, while 2022uses ごろ
Examples
- 10ねんぐらいまえに – About 10 years ago.
- 2か月ぐらいかかる – It will take about 2 months.
- 3週間ぐらい前にあった – I met (him) about 3 weeks ago.
- 2022ごろに生まれた – Born around the year 2022.