About / Approximately: 쯤, 정도, 약, 한

English leans on one small word — about — and lets you slot it in almost anywhere: "about three," "three or so," "roughly three o'clock." Korean spreads that same job across four different words: 쯤, 정도, 약, and 한. They are not interchangeable, but the thing that sorts them is beautifully mechanical: 쯤 and 정도 come after the amount; 약 and 한 come before it. Get the position right and you will almost never grab the wrong one. This page shows you where each one goes, what shade of "about" it carries, and how to add the finer approximators 넘게 ("more than"), 가까이 ("nearly"), and 남짓 ("a little over").

The quick map

쯤 — glued on after a point

쯤 is a suffix (접미사), so it attaches directly to the number or time with no space: 세 시쯤, 만 원쯤, 열 명쯤. It pins a point on a scale — a moment on the clock, a round sum, a rough count — and says "somewhere right around here."

정도 — a separate word after a quantity

정도 is a full noun (it literally means "degree, extent"), so it is written as its own word with a space before it: 한 시간 정도, 다섯 개 정도. It measures an amount or extent — "to roughly the degree of." Where 쯤 pins a landmark, 정도 sizes up a quantity.

Notice 한 시간 정도: here 한 is the numeral "one" (한 시간 = one hour), and 정도 is the "about." Hold that thought — the approximator 한 is a different animal, and we get to it below.

쯤 vs 정도: point versus extent

With a time on the clock, 쯤 is the idiomatic choice (세 시쯤). With a duration or a countable quantity, 정도 fits more naturally (세 시간 정도, 열 개 정도). For money and plain counts they overlap almost freely — 만 원쯤 and 만 원 정도 are both fine and mean the same thing. The nuance: 쯤 leans toward "in the vicinity of a point," 정도 toward "roughly this much."

약 — the formal prefix, out front

약 (from 約) is a bookish approximator that sits before the number, and it pairs most naturally with Sino-Korean numbers and measurements: 약 오십 명, 약 삼 킬로미터, 약 백 년. It belongs to (formal / written) register — newspapers, reports, announcements, statistics. In casual speech it sounds stiff.

한 — the casual "about," and the 한 = "one" trap

한 is the everyday spoken counterpart of 약. It, too, sits before the number — 한 열 명, 한 세 시간, 한 삼십 분 — and it belongs to (informal / spoken) register. It happily precedes native and Sino numbers in casual speech (한 다섯 개, 한 삼십 분).

Here is the trap that catches every learner. This approximator 한 is spelled identically to the numeral 한 ("one," the pre-counter shape of 하나). They look the same but do different jobs, and the give-away is what comes next:

• 한 + counter (nothing in between) = the number one: 한 명 = one person, 한 개 = one item, 한 시간 = one hour.
• 한 + number + counter = about: 한 열 명 = about ten people, 한 다섯 개 = about five, 한 세 시간 = about three hours.

Beyond "about": more than, nearly, a little over

Once "roughly" is comfortable, Korean gives you three precise directional approximators. Unlike the neutral 쯤/정도/약/한, these tell you which side of the figure you are on. All three follow the quantity:

• 넘게 — more than, strictly over the number: 열 명 넘게 (more than ten people).
• 가까이 — nearly, approaching from below: 백 명 가까이 (nearly a hundred).
• 남짓 — a little over, just past the number: 한 시간 남짓 (a little over an hour).

Keep them apart by direction: 가까이 falls short of the number, 넘게 goes past it, and 남짓 is just barely past it. The plain "about" words (쯤, 정도, 약, 한) stay noncommittal about which side.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting 약 after the number. 약 is a prefix — it must come first. English speakers, used to "fifty or so," reach for the tail slot.

• ✗ 백 명 약
• ✓ 약 백 명 (or, conversationally, 백 명쯤 / 백 명 정도)

2. Stacking 약 with 쯤 or 정도. 약 and 쯤/정도 are two ways of saying the same "about." Use one, never both — doubling them is redundant.

• ✗ 약 세 시쯤
• ✓ 세 시쯤 (casual) — or 약 세 시 (formal)

3. Confusing the approximator 한 with the numeral 한. To say "about ten people," 한 goes before the number, and 한 명 does not mean "about one."

• ✗ 열 명 한 왔어요 (한 misplaced)
• ✓ 한 열 명 왔어요 — han yeol myeong wasseoyo — "About ten people came."

4. Writing a space before 쯤 (or none before 정도). 쯤 is a suffix — glue it on. 정도 is a noun — space it off.

• ✗ 세 시 쯤 · ✗ 세시정도
• ✓ 세 시쯤 · ✓ 세 시 정도

5. Using 약 in casual speech. 약 is written and formal. Texting a friend "약 세 시에 보자" sounds like a press release.

• ✗ (to a friend) 약 세 시에 보자.
• ✓ 세 시쯤 보자. — se sijjeum boja — "Let's meet around three."

Key Takeaways

• Position sorts them: 쯤 and 정도 follow the amount; 약 and 한 precede it.
• 쯤 is an attached suffix that pins a point (세 시쯤); 정도 is a separate noun that sizes an extent (한 시간 정도); they overlap for money and counts.
• 약 is the formal/written "about" out front (약 오십 명); 한 is its casual/spoken twin (한 열 명).
• 한 + counter = "one"; 한 + number + counter = "about" — the number in between flips the meaning.
• For direction, use 가까이 (nearly, from below), 넘게 (more than), and 남짓 (a little over).