adverbial N3 common casualpolitewritten
だいたい — roughly / mostly
だいたい
Meaning
- roughly / generally / mostly — an approximation, or the main part of something
Key sentence
仕事はだいたい終わった。
The work is mostly done.
Examples
毎朝だいたい7時に起きる。
I get up at around 7 every morning.
話の内容はだいたい分かった。
I got the gist of what was said.
Easily confused with
Notes
- At the head of a sentence, だいたい also means 'in the first place / to begin with,' often reproachful: だいたい、君が悪い = 'To begin with, it's your fault.'
See だいたい in real sentences
Jengo shows だいたい the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.