Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 9: 6/16

と～と、どちらが Between ~ which one

Structure

Noun (A) + と + Noun (B) + （と） + どちら(1) + が
Verb1 + こと(2) + と + Verb2 + こと(2) + （と） + どちら(1) + が

(1) どちらのほう、どっち、どっちのほう
(2) の

Details

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About と～と、どちらが

と～と、どちらが is an expression in Japanese that is made from the following parts:

と - The particle (x2) in its meaning of 'and'.

どちら - The polite speech form of 誰(だれ) 'who', and a slightly newer form of どっち that basically means 'which'.

が - The case marking particle.

This structure is used when the speaker is asking a question about whether someone will choose (A) or (B). It is only used when there are no more than two possible choices.

As can be seen above, verbs may be used as part of this structure if they are nominalized with こと, or の. Additionally, the polite form does not specifically need to be used, and どっち may be used instead.

The second と itself is quite often omitted, as どちら (or どっち) implies that both (A) and (B) are part of the same structure.

Fun Fact

As どちら is the polite speech form of 誰(だれ), it is also frequently used as a polite way to ask questions about unknown people.

  • すみません、どちら様(さま)ですか？
    I'm sorry, who are you?

Caution

どちらのほう (or どっちのほう) may also be used, but this does not really change the overall nuance. It merely puts slightly more emphasis on the 'direction' of the choice. This is similar to expressions like 'which one are you leaning towards?' in English.

  • ワインとビールとどちらの方(ほう)が飲(の)みたいですか？
    Between wine and beer, which would you want to drink more?

Examples

--:--

    コーヒーとお茶(ちゃ)とどちらがほしいですか。

    Between coffee and tea, which do you want?

    スポーツすることと、ゲームすること、どちらが上手(じょうず)ですか。

    Between playing sports and playing video games, which are you better at?

    ひらがなとカタカナとどちらが覚(おぼ)えにくいですか。

    Between hiragana and katakana, which one is more difficult to remember?

    エベレストとK2とどちらが高(たか)い？

    Between Everest and K2, which one is taller?

    電車(でんしゃ)で行(い)くのと車(くるま)で行(い)くのとどちらが早(はや)いんですか。

    Between going by train and going by car, which one is faster?

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と～と、どちらが – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (9 in total)

  • modboy

    modboy

    Does を ‘block’ the が here or is something else going on?

    犯人（はんにん）は逃（に）げるのと、警察（けいさつ）に行（い）くのとどちらを選（えら）ぶでしょう。

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    There is no “blocking” going on. You are just using どちら with the を particle instead of the が particle.

    With 選ぶ, が marks who is making the choice and を marks what is being chosen.

    Edit: This might not be the entire story though. Take for example this example sentence from bunpro:

    二階（にかい）建（だ）てのマンションと 普通（ふつう）の家（いえ）とどちらが 住（す）んでみたい？

    Normally, に marks where you are living and が marks who is the one living. In this example it is using が with a location. Searching twitter どちらに住む is much more common than どちらが住む for choosing between two locations. Maybe this is just a case of どちらが being so common that people accidentally use it like this and common accidents eventually become standard use.

  • steffuld

    steffuld

    It looks like there’s a mistake in the Structure block? There should not be (1) next to こと.
    I think it meant to say that you can nominalize options expressed by verbs using both こと and の. And instead of どちら, どちらのほう, どっち, どっちのほう can be used.

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