LEARN + JAPANESE / Note 144 JLPT N4
More Than (より・ほうが〜より)
より attaches after a noun and marks the thing being compared against, “more than X.” Paired with ほうが on the item that wins the comparison, X のほうがYより [adjective] makes the comparison explicit on both sides.
Planes are faster than trains.
Kanji are harder than hiragana.
In Real Life
より alone is enough to make a comparison, X はYより[adjective], with X automatically understood as the winning side. Adding のほうが in front makes the same comparison but places extra emphasis on X, useful when contrasting two options someone’s actively choosing between.
Tokyo has a bigger population than Kyoto.
I think speaking Japanese is more fun than writing it.
In Real Life
Both sides of the comparison can be whole verb phrases, not just nouns, 漢字を覚えるほうが、単語を覚えるより大変, “memorizing kanji is harder than memorizing vocabulary,” comparing two entire activities rather than two simple things.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| airplane | |
| fast | |
| cool | |
| letter | |
| exam | |
| cafeteria | |
| wide, spacious | |
| population | |
| river | |
| long | |
| vocabulary word | |
| simple, easy | |
| not at all | |
| to compare | |
| difference | |
| overwhelmingly | |
| to excel, be superior | |
| to be inferior | |
| ranking | |
| standard, criterion |