How to Say ‘Just a little bit short’ in Traditional Chinese
只差一點
zhǐ chà yī diǎn
[jir chah ee-dyen]
💬 Usage Tip: [只差一點] means “just a tiny bit short” or “only missed by a little.” Slightly more specific than [差一點].
🇹🇼 In Taiwan: This phrase sounds natural when discussing replays, where fans analyze exactly how close the shot was.
Phrase Breakdown
只
zhǐ
[jir]
only; merely; just
只 adds emphasis that the margin was very small.
那球只差一點就碰到門柱內側了。
That ball was just a little away from hitting the inside of the post.
差一點
chà yī diǎn
[chah ee-dyen]
almost; by a little bit
差一點 means 'almost,' and with 只 it stresses how extremely close it was.
我們看重播時，發現那球只差一點就進門了。
When we watched the replay, we realized that ball missed entering the goal by just a little.
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