Comparatives and Superlatives

I had the opportunity last week to practice some old grammar points from first year Japanese: comparatives and superlatives. The textbook (Yookoso! 1 GP18) is pretty confusing. And although I remember this grammar in theory, putting it into practice is much more difficult.

In both Japanese and English you use different forms when you want to compare two things and when you want to compare three or more things.

	Comparative	Superlative
attributes	bigger, better, more beautiful	biggest, best, most beautiful
actions	jumps higher, runs faster	jumps (the) highest, runs (the) fastest
alternatives	Which is better? => A or B? A is better.	Which is the best? A or B or C? => C is the best. What is the most expensive hotel in Tokyo? => Hotel X is the most expensive hotel in Tokyo.
sameness	My car is about as old as your car.

Comparing Attributes

Learning how to make comparisons in Japanese reminds me again how glad I am that I'm not studying English. In English when you compare the attributes of two things, English adjectives change form: (big, bigger), (small, smaller), (new, newer). This 〜er form is called the comparative form.

Compared With: NP より

Japanese adjectives do not have a comparative form. To compare two things, you use a specific sentence structure which basically means, NP1=Predicate Adjective, compared with NP2.

A:	Austin is big.	オースティンは　大きい　です。
B:	Austin's not big.	オースティンは　大きくない　です。
A:	Compared with San Marcos.	サンマーコスより。
B:	Compared with San Marcos, Austin is big. = Austin is bigger than San Marcos.	サンマーコスより　オースティンは　大きい　です。 ＝　オースティンは　サンマーコスより　大きい　です。

Austin is big compared with San Marcos. In Japanese, the word order is a different: literally, "Austin, compared with San Marcos, is big." This is a perfectly understandable English sentence. What makes it a bit difficult for English speakers is we like to keep our subjects and predicates together. "Austin is big compared with San Marcos." Or "Austin, more than San Marcos, is big." An even more awkward translation: "Austin is more big than San Marcos." Although it's fine to say "more interesting than" in English, some English adjectives are inflected (they have their own forms for more and most). So using the comparative form, the translation is "Austin is bigger than San Marcos."

Another example. My husband's car is old. But it's newer than my car. So I'm not saying that my husband's car is new, just that it is more new than my car. That sounds really awkward, right? So with 〜er adjectives just think, "newer than", "bigger than", "smaller than", "better than".

Many English adjectives don't have an 〜er form. You can't say "It's interestinger." You say "It's more interesting". So another English translation of より is "more [adjective] than".

English	NP1は	NP2より	Predicate Adjective (positive)
Kyoto is beautiful.	京都は		きれい　だ。
Kyoto, compared with Tokyo, is beautiful. = Kyoto is more beautiful than Tokyo.	京都は	東京より	きれい　だ。
I think Kyoto is more beautiful than Tokyo.	京都は	東京より	きれい　だ　と　おもいます。

Making comparisons in Japanese is easy if you remember that the predicate refers to the topic (NP1は).

Everything else you've learned about adjectives applies. The adjective in the predicate can be formal or informal. It can be non-past, past, or probable. It can be an i-adjective or a na-adjective.

〜より positive、〜ほど negative

There is one exception: positive vs. negative. It's the same in English. "More than" gets changed to "not as much as". A is more interesting than B. B is not as interesting as A.

Sentence Pattern: Comparative Adjectives (Positive)

NP1は	NP2より	Predicate Adjective (positive)
オースティンは	サンマーコスより	大きい　です。
Austin	compared with San Marcos	is big.
=> Austin is bigger than San Marcos.

Sentence Pattern: Comparative Adjectives (Negative)

NP1は	NP2ほど	Predicate Adjective (negative)
オースティンは	ダラスほど	大きくない　です。
Austin	compared with Dallas	is not big.
=> Austin is not as big as Dallas.

If the adjective is negative, make one small change: replace より with ほど。You do the same type of thing in English: "is bigger than NP2" => "is not as big as NP2"

質問とコメント

Comparing Things: Drills

Warm up by conjugating adjectives in the predicate. Change the positive comparison into a negative comparison. Keep the politeness level and the tense the same. Practice with i-adjectives first and then na-adjectives. Notice the differences!

i-Adjectives

Positive Comparison	Negative Comparison
Non-Past
is hotter than	is not as hot as
より暑い（です）	ほど暑くない（です） ほど暑くありません
is colder than	is not as cold as
より寒い（です）	ほど寒くない（です） ほど寒くありません
is more interesting than	is not as interesting as
より面白い（です）	ほど面白くない（です） ほど面白くありません
is better than	is not as good as
よりいい（です）	ほどよくない（です） ほどよくありません
is worse than	is not as bad as
より悪い（です）	ほど悪くない（です） ほど悪くありません
Past
was longer than	was not as long as
より長かった（です）	ほど長くなかった（です） ほど長くありませんでした
was shorter (length) than	was not as short as
より短かった（です）	ほど短くなかった（です） ほど短くありませんでした
was taller than	was not as tall as
より高かった（です）	ほど高くなかった（です） ほど高くありませんでした
was shorter (height) than	was not as short as
より低かった（です）	ほど低くなかった（です） ほど低くありませんでした

na-Adjectives

Positive Comparison	Negative Comparison
Non-Past
is safer than	is not as safe as
より安全「だ｜です」	ほど安全「じゃ｜では」ない ほど安全「じゃ｜では」ありません
is more convenient than	is not as convenient as
より便利「だ｜です」	ほど便利「じゃ｜では」ない ほど便利「じゃ｜では」ありません
is more cheerful than	is not as cheerful as
より元気「だ｜です」	ほど元気「じゃ｜では」ない ほど元気「じゃ｜では」ありません
is more famous than	is not as famous as
より有名「だ｜です」	ほど有名「じゃ｜では」ない ほど有名「じゃ｜では」ありません
Past
was safer than	was not as safe as
より安全「だった｜でした」	ほど安全「じゃ｜では」なかった ほど安全「じゃ｜では」ありませんでした
was more convenient than	was not as convenient as
より便利「だった｜でした」	ほど便利「じゃ｜では」なかった ほど便利「じゃ｜では」ありませんでした
was more cheerful than	was not as cheerful as
より元気「だった｜でした」	ほど元気「じゃ｜では」なかった ほど元気「じゃ｜では」ありませんでした