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Expressing 'less than' with 不到 (búdào)
Structure
Noun + 不到 + Number/Amount
Explanation
The verb 不到 (búdào) means 'less than' or 'not reaching,' used to indicate that a quantity falls short of a specified amount. It is commonly placed after a noun and before a number to express that something does not reach a certain threshold. For example, 人口不到五百万 means 'a population of less than five million.'
Examples
这个小镇的人口不到三千人。
zhège xiǎo zhèn de rénkǒu bú dào sānqiān rén.
The population of this small town is less than three thousand.
他学中文不到半年，已经能简单对话了。
tā xué zhōngwén bú dào bàn nián, yǐjīng néng jiǎndān duìhuà le.
He has been studying Chinese for less than half a year and can already have simple conversations.
从这里到车站不到十分钟的路程。
cóng zhèlǐ dào chēzhàn bú dào shí fēnzhōng de lùchéng.
It's less than a ten-minute journey from here to the station.