How to Say "Nearly" in French

presque

/pʁɛsk/

The French word for nearly is presque.

presque is used with adjectives, adverbs and nouns to indicate that a state or quantity is very close to being reached.

Meaning: almost, but not quite (adv)

How does it change in a sentence?

presque is an adverb and is invariable, meaning it does not change its form to agree with gender or number.

/pʁɛsk/

In French, if you want to say you 'nearly' missed a train, you might use faillir, which is a specific verb for almost failing to do something.
The word presque is an example of univerbation, where the separate words près meaning 'near' and que meaning 'that' fused into a single word over centuries.
While presque means 'nearly', the phrase presque pas means 'hardly' or 'scarcely' in English.

Tu es presque mort.
You nearly died.
This sentence shows how to use presque to describe a near-death experience.
Tatoeba #4653793 by sacredceltic, translation #2549415 by CK
Je suis presque prêt.
I'm nearly ready.
This sentence demonstrates using presque with an adjective to describe readiness.
Tatoeba #640044 by qdii, translation #7114494 by CK
Il était presque midi.
It was nearly noon.
This sentence illustrates using presque to indicate a time that is almost noon.
Tatoeba #11171673 by Aiji, translation #33292 by CK
Il est presque minuit.
It is nearly midnight.
Le film est quasi terminé.
The movie is almost finished.
Il fait à peu près 20 degrés.
It's approximately 20 degrees.
Pratiquement tout le monde est là.
Nearly everyone is here.
C'est quasiment fini.
It's almost done.
88 more sentences on Tatoeba

Manon and Hugo are finishing a meal at a restaurant.

Sources

Wiktionary, “nearly” translations and entries presque, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries presque, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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