差（一）点儿: almost, nearly
【五08】语气副词 / adverbs
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
差（一）点儿 says that an event almost happened but did not. The trap is the difference between 差点儿 + V and 差点儿没 + V: it depends on what the speaker wants.
• An event the speaker does not want (摔倒, 迟到, 哭, 睡着): both forms say the same thing, “I nearly…”. 差点儿摔倒 = 差点儿没摔倒 (I nearly fell).
• An event the speaker wants (赶上, 考上, 买到): 差点儿 + V = “I just missed it” (差点儿考上: I nearly got in, but did not), while 差点儿没 + V = “I only just made it” (差点儿没赶上: I still caught my train).
You can drop the 儿 and say 差点, and 差一点 is a little more emphatic. With 就 (差点儿就…了) the “almost” is stressed: 差点儿就赶上了 means it was missed. Before a quantity, “almost” is 差不多 or 将近, not 差点儿.
Examples
路很滑，我差点儿摔倒。
Lù hěn huá, wǒ chàdiǎnr shuāidǎo.The road was slippery and I nearly fell.
吓死我了，刚才差点儿没摔倒！
Xià sǐ wǒ le, gāngcái chàdiǎnr méi shuāidǎo!That scared me to death, I nearly fell just now!
听到这个好消息，她激动得差点儿哭了。
Tīngdào zhège hǎo xiāoxi, tā jīdòng de chàdiǎnr kū le.On hearing the good news she was so moved that she almost cried.
昨晚雨太大了，我差点没赶上最后一班地铁。
Zuówǎn yǔ tài dà le, wǒ chàdiǎn méi gǎnshàng zuìhòu yì bān dìtiě.It rained so hard last night that I only just caught the last metro.
他只差一分，差点儿考上那所大学。
Tā zhǐ chà yì fēn, chàdiǎnr kǎo shàng nà suǒ dàxué.He was one point short and nearly got into that university.
我差点儿就买到那张票了，可惜被别人先买走了。
Wǒ chàdiǎnr jiù mǎi dào nà zhāng piào le, kěxī bèi biérén xiān mǎi zǒu le.I almost got that ticket, but sadly someone else bought it first.
Common mistakes
✗ 我差点儿没赶上火车，只好等下一班 → ✓ 我差点儿就赶上火车了，只好等下一班 (差点儿没赶上 means the train was caught).
✗ 电影差点儿三个小时 → ✓ 电影差不多三个小时 (差点儿 goes before an event verb, and before a quantity you use 差不多 or 将近).