Gurai VS. Goro: The Final Showdown
Most of my Japanese I’ve picked up simply from talking to native speakers in Japanese. Asking them to repeat themselves a few hundred times, texting on LINE and using my favorite iPhone Japanese Dictionary imiwa?.
One thing I picked up rather quickly was the use of くらい or ぐらい, which means “about” as in an approximation. For example if I was talking to a friend about going to the mall or a movie and they asked me how far it is I could tell them,
車で１５分ぐらい。
“By car, about 15 minutes.”"
For a while I was also misusing くらい or ぐらい when telling that something will happen at around a certain time. For example if someone asked:
パーティーは何時ですか？
“What time is the party?”
I might answer:
午後８時ぐらい。
“Around 8PM”
Finally corrected me and told me that ぐらい or くらい with a specific time is a no-no. Instead I should use ころ or ごろ in the same way, but I was understood.
So when a friend asks
イベントは何時？
“What time is the event?”
You should answer with ころ・ごろ:
８時ごろ
Conclusion
Even though I was understood using the wrong word, it’s probably a better idea to get it straight in my head. So you can use this small cheat sheet to help:
| 日本語 | When to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ころ・ごろ | use with specific time | パーティー何時ですか？ ８時ごろです |
| くらい・ぐらい | use with a duration of time. | 日本語はどのくらい勉強しますか？ ２年くらい |
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