Lesson 35 — Comparatives and Superlatives

Overview

Comparing things is essential everyday grammar: “A is bigger than B,” “which do you prefer?”, “this is the best,” “they’re the same.” Japanese handles comparison quite differently from English — there’s no equivalent of adding “-er” or “more” to an adjective. Instead, the comparison is built through particles and structure, while the adjective itself stays unchanged.

💡 The key mindset shift: In English, the adjective changes (big → bigger). In Japanese, the adjective stays the same (大きい), and the comparison is expressed by the words around it — especially より (than) and ほう (side/direction). Master these structures and comparison becomes straightforward.

Part 1: The Basic Comparative — より (“than”)

より means “than” or “compared to.” It attaches to the thing being used as the standard of comparison.

Structure 1: AはBより〜 — “A is more ~ than B”

Pattern: A は B より [adjective]

Japanese	English
北海道は東京より大きいです。	Hokkaido is bigger than Tokyo.
ルフィはゾロより強いです。	Luffy is stronger than Zoro.
今日は昨日より寒いです。	Today is colder than yesterday.

💡 Notice the adjective doesn’t change. 大きい means both “big” and “bigger” — context and the より structure supply the comparison. There’s no separate comparative form.