Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 8: 11/13

より～の方(ほう)がTo be more ~ than ~

Structure

Verb (A) + より + Verb (B) + 方(ほう) + が

［い］Adjective (A) + より + ［い］Adjective (B) + 方(ほう) + が

［な］Adjective (A) + な + より + ［な］Adjective (B) + な + 方(ほう) + が

Noun (A) + より + Noun (B) + の + 方(ほう) + が

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Expression

  • Word Type

    Adjective / Adjectival Noun

  • Register

    Standard

About より～のほうが

より～のほうが can be thought of as similar to the grammar points たほうがいい, and ないほうがいい, in that it expresses that one thing is the 'better (A)', or 'more (A)'. However, unlike ほうがいい based expressions, any pair of adjectives, verbs, or nouns may be compared in this construction, so long as のほうが is followed by an adjective.

より translates roughly to 'than', or 'rather than' in this phrase.

From the examples listed here, we can see that より will always appear after the word that has the lower extent of (A), when used together with のほうが.

Caution

When より is used by itself, or when it is not linked directly to the previous word, it can seem like it has the opposite meaning. However, in these cases, のほうが just remains unsaid.

In this example, because the より is after が, not before これ, it is easy to assume that これ is the thing that is lower. However, this が behaves in the same way as のほうが, meaning that これ itself is the more expensive thing, with より just being used like 'relatively' (compared to many other things).

Caution

Although の方(ほう)が is the most common construction, the particle を may sometimes replace が. This is especially true when used with markers of desire such as たい and ほしい. The primary difference between these two is that が emphasizes what a person wants or wants to do (the whole statement), while を emphasizes the item or action itself (regardless of the rest of the statement). With たい, both を and が will sound completely natural. However, with ほしい, が will be more natural, while を is accepted.

This use of ほしい only applies to wanting items, as opposed to たい, which indicates the desire to 'do' something.

Related

Examples

--:--

    このパンよりそのパンのほうが美味(おい)しいです。

    That bread is more delicious than this bread.

    バスケットボールよりサッカーのほうが好(す)き。

    I like soccer more than basketball.

    ユキよりリュウトのほうが賢(かしこ)い。

    Ryuto is smarter than Yuki.

    月曜日(げつようび)より、日曜日(にちようび)のほうが好(す)き。

    I like Sunday more than Monday.

    あそこの 公園(こうえん)より、家(いえ)に近(ちか)い公園(こうえん)のほうが広(ひろ)い。

    The park near my house is more spacious than that park over there.

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より～のほうが – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (16 in total)

  • Jake

    Jake

    is more ~ than ~

    Structure

    • Noun1より + Noun2の・方・が + Adj
    • Verbより + Verb2方・が + Adj
    • いAdj1より + いAdj2方・が Adj
    • なAdj1な・より + なAdj2な・方・が + Adj

    View on Bunpro

  • Darkfire16

    Darkfire16

    This grammar point seemed a tad odd to me when I did it, then I realized Genki I reverses the format, Noun1 の・方・が + Noun2 より + Adj. Is there a particular difference or reason to use one over the other (outside of Bunpro)?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @Darkfire16
    Sorry for the late answer

    There is absolutely no difference.
    Just remember to put attention to particles, to know which “side” of comparison is better. You will see and hear both word orders. Though I think the one used at Bunpro is more common.

  • MissDagger

    MissDagger

    For this grammar point, do we ever get tested on the より part? Preferably both? (I’m guessing both doesn’t work with the current set up.) Because I don’t think I’d remember the より part right now if I had to write that in. (I’ve had 2 reviews of it.)

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Hey
    The point was that nouns and adjectives that modify ほうが are conjugated, therefore it needed more focus than より.

    But you are right, より also needs some reinforcement, I will change some examples, so users would not only use ほう, but also より。

    Edit:
    Done.

    @MissDagger

  • MissDagger

    MissDagger

    Great. And yeah, I can see how the modifying of the nouns/adjectives are important.

  • MissDagger

    MissDagger

    I have another question. I tried to look up 方 but couldn’t find anything with a search online. Why is there a need for の before the nouns? Since the verbs are acting like nouns, why don’t they need の or こと?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Ohh sorry for not seeing the question, I bet you know the e answer now, but it will be for future readers too.

    The verb can be directly attached to the noun when it modifies it. There is no need for anything else between. Similar how い adjectives modify (describe) nouns.

    In the case of nouns, の is needed when modifying noun with another noun. This is a grammatical rule. Similar how な adjectives modify (describe) nouns.

    の and こと (in case of verbs) are needed to change a verb into a noun. This is a process called nominalization.

    Cheers,
    (and super sorry for late reply )

  • hachimagu

    hachimagu

    Hi,

    I would appreciate it a lot, if some of the example sentences would be changed to the pattern:
    Noun1 の・方・が + Noun2 より

    Thanks
    Andreas

  • Lamster

    Lamster

    Why? Just for variety?

  • TokyoNeonDreams

    TokyoNeonDreams

    This is regarding the red box’s example: これがより高い. But I am confused by the follow-up statement, “In this example, because the より is before が, not before これ…” より is after が, which is why I am confused. (It is also late and I likely need a break.) Please advise.

  • Daru

    Daru

    The redaction is a bit weird, but it basically means that the positioning of が and より would alter the overall meaning of the sentence due to what they’re marking.

    これがより高い → [これが] [より高い]
    → [This, the subject] [Expensive, in relation to other things]

    “This is more expensive.” (Compared to other things in general)

    Let’s compare it to:

    これより高い → [これより] [高い]
    → [This, in relation to other things] [Is expensive]

    “It’s more expensive than this.”

    これが高い → [これが] [高い]
    → [This, the subject] [Is expensive]

    “It’s expensive.”

    Hope this clears it up a bit!

  • TokyoNeonDreams

    TokyoNeonDreams

    わかりました。ありがとうございました。

  • Arwin1

    Arwin1

    This sentence turned up in my reviews:
    漢字（）より、文法（）のほうを勉強（）したい。

    I typed のほうが here and got a hint that another particle (を apparently) would be more natural than が. Why is this? I can’t find a mention of this in the grammar point or its examples.

  • komocode

    komocode

    wondering the same. weird solution

  • Tensor

    Tensor

    I haven’t seen too much of なより in the wild. For example, a sentence like:

    静かより、賑やかなほうが好きです。

    Seems natural. Is there a real difference here? Is this ungrammatical?

  • Fuga

    Fuga

    Hey @Tensor !

    静かより、賑やかなほうが好きです sounds a little unnatural because a な must be placed between the adjective and より. The sentence above could pass as ‘natural’ in a very casual conversation if the です at the end were to be removed.

    The only reason it could pass as ‘natural’ is simply because it is used in a casual context and that’s it, but in any other contexts, it will sound more natural if the な was included.

    This becomes more clear when you add more context to the sentence you have provided.

    For example ルームメイトは静かなより、賑やかな方が好きです sounds natural, and ルームメイトは静かより、賑やかな方が好きです sounds very unnatural since it is ungrammatical.

    I hope this answers your question!

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