Nearly / approximately (近/约)

Structure 近/约 + figure + (measure)

In journalism, 近 (jìn) and 约 (yuē) go before a figure to approximate it. 近 = "nearly, just under" (近万人 = "nearly ten thousand people", a hair below); 约 = "around, some" (约三千元 = "some three thousand yuan"), without saying whether it's over or under. This is the written, administrative register of the approximators that HSK 3 handled with 大约 in front or 左右 behind: 大约三千元 / 三千元左右 says the same thing in speech. Here the approximator always precedes the figure and reads like a newspaper or report.

Examples

现xiàn场chǎng观guān众zhòng近jìn万wàn人rén。
The audience on site was close to ten thousand.
这zhè台tái设shè备bèi售shòu价jià约yuē三sān千qiān元yuán。
This piece of equipment sells for around three thousand yuan.
项xiàng目mù历lì时shí近jìn三sān年nián才cái完wán工gōng。
The project took nearly three years to complete.
全quán国guó约yuē有yǒu两liǎng亿yì人rén受shòu益yì。
Roughly two hundred million people nationwide benefit.

Levels are indicative: they follow the standard Chinese Grammar Wiki (AllSet Learning) progression, not an official HSK 3.0 mapping. We never assign levels by eye.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.