Structure
Verb + わりに
[い]Adjective + わりに
[な]Adjective + な + わりに
Noun + の + わりに
Details
Register
Standard
使用域
一般
About 割に
As an adverb, 割に is usually used in a similar way to 'although', 'despite', or 'comparatively' in English.
割に may be used at the beginning of a sentence, or after any word/phrase that it is highlighting as being 'comparative'. When following な-Adjectives or nouns, な or の will be required.
割 itself is a noun meaning 'proportionate', and is primarily used as a suffix. 割に may be thought of as a direct extension of this use, as 'proportionately' is its closest literal meaning.
Fun Fact
While 割に is often thought to make comparisons between things, it actually only ever compares something to itself (or things within the same category). The 'proportion' that is then highlighted is something that is not common within the category of (A).
Caution
Both 割と and 割に are quite common expressions. However, 割と is used far more often in casual speech to show that something is 'unexpectedly (A)'. It will also frequently be used as a stand-alone expression, appearing directly before the word (usually an adjective) that is of a 'considerable' amount.
- これ割と美味しいよ。This is unexpectedly tasty.
-
昨日買った包丁は割といい。The knife I bought yesterday is quite good.
Synonyms
Examples
--:--
Get more example sentences!
Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.
高い食べ物の割に、美味しくなさそう。
The expensive food looks unexpectedly unappetizing.
私はたくさん勉強した割に、テストの点数が悪かった。
Although I studied a lot, I got a bad score on the test.
あの人は頭が良い割に、コミュニケーションが苦手です。
Although that person is smart, he is bad at communication.
疲れている割には、かなり動けた方だと思います。
I think he is rather quite active for how tired he is.
今日は冬の割に暖かい。
Today is rather warm for winter.
Self-Study Sentences
Study your own way!
Add sentences and study them alongside Bunpro sentences.
Online
How to use にしては & わりに(は)
MaggieSensei
~割りに(は)
E-Japanese
「にしては」「わりに」
日本語の森
「わりに」 「くせに」
日本語の森
Offline
完全マスター N2
page 86-1
Track Resources!
Bunpro tracks all of the resources you’ve visited, and offers relevant bookmarks of physical books to help with offline tracking.
割に – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (3 in total)
tylus
I’m not sure if I misunderstood something, but based on the video of Nihongo no Mori we should only use わりに for positive outcomes, while くせに is used for negative outcomes.
There are a lot of example sentences that do not follow this rule, so I wanted to ask if it really applies here.
Thanks!Pushindawood
@tylus Hey! Both わりに and くせに can be used with unexpected, negative outcomes. However, わりに can also be used when the outcome is positive, whileくせに cannot. Cheers!
conan
While going through DIJG, they mention 割合 as another way of saying 割と, which I saw mentioned on this grammar point, but not 割合. I wasn’t sure if it was worth also bringing up 割合 as well.
Got questions about 割に? Join us to discuss, ask, and learn together!
Join the Discussion