Comparing and choosing in Japanese

Level A2

Comparing and choosing in Japanese

In a second-hand furniture shop there are two desks and three chairs, and you have to choose. The Japanese comparison sentence has no word for “more” and no -er ending: より marks the option you measure against, and のほうが marks the one with more of the quality. Here you compare and ask between two options and then, among three, you use 一番 (いちばん, the most).

Recap: describing things and linking with の

Comparing starts with describing. 大きい (おおきい, big), 小さい (ちいさい, small) and きれい (clean; it can mean “pretty”, but in this lesson it means “clean”) come before です, and 好きです (すきです, to like) takes が: コーヒーが好きです. The particle の links two nouns: 友達の家 (ともだちのいえ) is “my friend's house”. The objects here are 机 (つくえ, desk) and 椅子 (いす, chair): in 小さい椅子です, “it's a small chair”, the quality comes before the noun. The drinks are コーヒー (coffee) and お茶 (おちゃ, tea). これ is “this”, near you; あれ (are) is “that”, far from you and from the person listening, and these words come back in every comparison: listen and repeat.

Model: choosing furniture in a shop

Listen once without reading. Two friends stand next to one desk and look at another further away, so they say これ and あれ. With two options the question uses どちらが (which of the two); with three chairs it uses どれが (which) and 一番. 三つ (みっつ) is “three” when counting things, and 三つの椅子の中で is “among the three chairs”. 机は at the start opens the subject: “as for the desks”. Nobody says “I” or “you”: the situation shows who likes what.

Two options: AよりBのほうが + quality

より (yori) comes after the option you measure against, and のほう (no hō) comes after the one with more of the quality, followed by が. It's the same の as in 友達の家: it links a noun to ほう, which here means “the one”. In this model the reference comes first, the reverse of English: これよりあれのほうが大きいです says “that one is bigger than this one”. The quality word doesn't change and this sentence has no “more”: 大きい stays 大きい, and the same goes for 小さい (これよりあれのほうが小さいです, that one is smaller), for きれい (ここ is “here”, そこ is “there”) and for 好き. You'll also see これはあれより大きいです, with は and no ほう: it talks about これ without setting up a choice. With friends, です can drop in these sentences: これよりあれのほうが大きい, コーヒーのほうが好き.

AよりBのほうが大きいです

Asking between two: AとB、どちらが…ですか

と (to) joins the two nouns, like “and”, and どちら (dochira) asks which of the two options. In this question どちら takes が, and the answer uses が too: どちらが大きいですか, 机のほうが大きいです. The question is the same for objects and places: ここと駅、どちらがきれいですか (駅, えき, station). The answer needn't repeat the other option with より: 駅のほうがきれいです. With 好き, the sentence comes out as “which do you like more”: コーヒーとお茶、どちらが好きですか. Among friends you'll hear どっち (dotchi) instead of どちら.

AとB、どちらが大きいですか

Among three: の中で and 一番

With two options, のほう is the usual choice; 一番 (いちばん, literally “number one”) is for three or more. First name the group with の中で (のなかで, among): 三つの中で is “among the three”, 三つの椅子の中で “among the three chairs”. In this lesson, ask with どれが for things and どこが (どこ, where) for places, and put 一番 right before the quality: 三つの中で、どれが一番大きいですか. The answer uses が, without ほう: これが一番大きいです, 駅が一番きれいです. The quality word doesn't change here either: 一番 alone does the work of “the most” or “-est”.

三つの中(なか)で、どれが一番(いちばん)大きいですか

Your turn, and the summary

You're in the shop with a friend. Cover the answers, listen to each question and answer with your own choice, swapping the options if yours is different; only then check. In short: between two options, ask AとB、どちらが…ですか and answer AよりBのほうが…です; among three or more, name the group with の中で and use 一番; the quality word doesn't change.

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