くらい is the most common way of saying “about” or “approximately” in Japanese. It will usually be introduced appended to a counter to let us say “about five minutes” or “about ten dollars”. Either くらい or ぐらい can be used; although when the particle is appended directly to a noun (e.g. a counter) then it will normally be pronounced ぐらい. Incidentally, the kanji is 位, but the hiragana is more often used in writing.
| あと５ |
| I think I can go in about five minutes. |
| １５ドルぐらいを |
| I have about $15. |
| It will take about three weeks until the parcel arrives. |
| Roughly what time do you think you will be able to get here? |
| イタリアが |
| I love Italy and I’ve been there about six times. |
| すぐに |
| It’s looks so delicious I want to eat it straight away! |
| The frypan is hot enough to burn you if you touch it so be careful. |