Structure:

Subject + 差点 (儿) + [verb phrase] + 了

Meaning:

It might help to understand the literal meaning of the structure. The word 差 (chà) has a lot of meanings. In this case, it means “to lack,” or “to be short.” So in Chinese, the way to say “almost” is to say, “lacking that little bit.” If that “little bit” hadn’t been lacking, it would have happened. But it was lacking, so it didn’t happen… it almost happened.

Examples:

    我们 队 差点儿 输了。

    Wǒ men duì chà dián ér shū le

    (the team didn’t lose)Our team almost lost.