---
title: "差点儿 (chàdiǎnr) in Chinese Grammar: Almost, With Examples"
description: "差点儿 (chàdiǎnr): almost; nearly (but it didn’t happen). 差点儿 + verb: it almost happened. 4 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/chadianr"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 差点儿 chàdiǎnr

Almost; nearly (but it didn’t happen)

差点儿 + verb: it almost happened.

## In stories

唐僧吓得**差点儿**从马背上掉下来，悟空却高兴地说：“师父别怕，它是给我送衣服来的！”

[救出悟空 · Freed from the Mountain](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/freed-from-the-mountain-journey-to-the-west-intermediate-chinese-10#library-word-721-724) HSK 5

他烧了父亲宫里的明珠，被父亲告到天上，**差点儿**被处死。

[白龙马 · The White Dragon Horse](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/the-white-dragon-horse-journey-to-the-west-intermediate-chinese-12#library-word-582-585) HSK 5

他被关进监狱一百多天，**差点儿**丢了命。

[苏东坡：诗人和吃货 · Su Dongpo, poet and cook: the story behind Dongpo pork](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/su-dongpo-dongpo-pork-story#library-word-296-299) HSK 6

安史之乱的时候，他因为加入了永王的队伍，被关进监狱，**差点儿**被处死，后来被流放到很远的夜郎，走到半路才遇到大赦。

[李白是谁？ · Who was Li Bai? China’s poet of the moon](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/who-was-li-bai#library-word-604-607) HSK 6

[Read 救出悟空](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/freed-from-the-mountain-journey-to-the-west-intermediate-chinese-10#library-word-721-724)

## More patterns

- [有点(儿) + adjective a bit …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/youdianr)
- [一点(儿) + 也/都 + 不/没 not … at all](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/yidian-ye-neg)
- [差点 almost; nearly (but it didn’t happen)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/chadian)
- [A 比 B + adjective + 一点/一些 a bit more … than …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/bi-yidian)
- [哪儿 + 也/都 + negative (nowhere) not … anywhere; nowhere](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/nar-ye-neg)
- [把 + object + verb do something to … (and it ends up changed)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/ba)

## What does 差点儿 (chàdiǎnr) mean in Chinese?

Almost; nearly (but it didn’t happen). 差点儿 + verb: it almost happened.

## How common is 差点儿?

It comes up in 4 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.