This has been bothering me for months now. As far as I know,「くらい」and「ぐらい」are
used to express approximate values. I want to ask how long something happened
**exactly**. I know that I can use「ちょうど」and「正に」、but every example that I have
using that has **also** used one of the phrases of approximation.

i.e.: 「どのくらい休みましたか？」 「どれくらいそこにいた？」 「正にどのくらい寝た？」 Examples such as these also
use「くらい」which, as far as I am aware, is approximate. It's contradictory
to「正確に」。 Thanks in advance.
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2021-06-28T08:22:50.190
87233
2021-06-30T02:09:17.303
2021-06-28T21:57:24.380
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question
grammar word-choice time
How do I ask how long something took without「くらい／ぐらい」？
You can always rephrase the question to not use ぐらい/くらい, and ask for a
specific unit of time. Examples：

  1. 何分休みましたか？ - How many minutes did you rest?
  2. 何時間寝ましたか？ - How many hours did you sleep?
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2021-06-28T22:18:44.623
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2021-06-28T22:18:44.623
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answer
How about using だけ, as in:

> (正確に、)どれ **だけ** 寝ましたか？  
>  (正確に、)どれ **だけ** (の時間)休みましたか？  
>  (正確に、)どれ **だけ** (の)時間がかかりましたか？
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2021-06-30T02:09:17.303
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2021-06-30T02:09:17.303
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answer