N5 Topics
L8: Out of These, I Prefer That
Use sentence level patterns to talk about preferences
Out of These, I Prefer That
In this Topic, we're going to learn about two phrases which are made up of more than one part. These are sentence-level patterns which combine smaller parts to create comparisons.
Specifically, we will learn about の中で～一番 and より～ほうが, which mean something like 'Among (A), (B) is the best' and 'more (A) than (B)' respectively.
Grammar in this Topic
のなかで～がいちばん～
Out of ~, ~ is the best/most ~
In Japanese '(A) の中で (B) が一番 (C)', is a regular expression that is used for showing that something is 'the most (C)', usually an adjective. This structure can be used with almost any adjective, whether it is positive or negative. Each part of this grammar point represents the following:
(A) - A group.
(B) - A single thing/person within that group.
(C) - An adjective, or general description of that thing/person.
This expression is also frequently used with demonstratives such as この and その.
The construction '(A) の中で' is regularly translated by itself as 'among (A)', and may be used in many different expressions. This will be covered in a separate grammar point.
より～のほうが
To be more ~ than ~
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.
Details
As can be seen on the grammar point pages, の中で～一番 and より～ほうが are both sentence level phrases made up of smaller parts. Let's explore this idea further.
I Wasn't Expecting That...
When learning a foreign language, it is completely natural to need to 'decode' sentences word by word at the beginner stages. However, a key skill for fluency is noticing sentence level patterns, so that it is easier to guess what the rest of a sentence will say before even reading it.
With の中で～一番 and より～ほうが we have two perfect examples of this. When a sentence has の中で or より near the start, we can generally assume that a comparison is about to be made.
The easiest way to train this sort of pattern recognition is plenty of exposure (such as reading example sentences fully!), but it's also important to try to actively guess how a sentence may end when these sorts of phrases appear.
Piece by Piece
Of course, the individual parts of these patterns can be used alone if the context is clear. However, even when one part of the pattern is not said explicitly, it is still possible to logically fill in the blanks.
This can also be rephrased as a clarifying question.
Mom's Cooking
--:--
姉：「夕飯はカレーにするけど、いつも何を入れる？」
妹：「私はにんじんと玉ねぎと豚肉を入れるよ。お姉ちゃんは？」
姉：「私も同じ。最後にりんごと塩を入れて煮込むの。甘くなるよ。」
妹：「そうなんだ！」
姉：「今日はりんごも入れるね。」
妹：「うん！楽しみ！フルーツの中でりんごが一番好き！」
姉：「どのカレーが一番美味しいと思う？」
妹：「私はこのカレーが一番美味しいと思うけど、お母さんの作るカレーが一番好き。」
姉：「私も。お母さんは自分でカレーを作るからすごいよ。」
妹：「すごいよね。スーパーで買うより自分で作るほうが美味しいよね。」
姉：「まあね。でも自分で作るのは大変だから大抵スーパーで買う。」
妹：「まあ、みんなそうだよ。」