#more or less

It’s been a while since my last grammar post, hasn’t it? I was going through my grammar directory and realized I had not yet written anything about this easy-to-use and super useful form!

Maybe you’re comparing prices of two similar objects at the store, or maybe you’re disagreeing with a friend which recent blockbuster was the best. In either case, you can use -보다 to indicate that one thing is more or less (adjective) than something else.

Function

As already stated, we use -보다 to make comparisons. For example, in English we might say something like:

This cell phone is more expensive than that one.

This movie is less exciting than that one.

Junho is smarter than Dani.

All of these are covered by -보다!

Usage

To form a sentence with -보다, you would use the basic format “Y는 X보다 (descriptive verb/adjective)” to mean “Y is more (adjective) than X.” Note that this basic format only works when you want to say that something is more (adjective) than something else. If you want to specify “less than,” you need to use the adverb “덜,” which means “less.”

이 핸드폰은 저것보다 비싸요. (This cell phone is more expensive than that one.)

이 영화는 그 영화보다덜 재미있어요. (This movie is less exciting than that one.)

준호는 다니보다 더 똑똑해요. (Junho is smarter than Dani)

            –> Note: Just like we have “덜” to indicate “less,” we also have “더” to indicate “more”! -보다 on its own automatically indicates “more than,” but you can emphasize it a little by adding “더” after -보다.

We can also expand a little bit on the basic format and be more descriptive with our comparisons by using other grammatical structures that we know.

승현 씨는 엘리 씨보다 공부를 잘하지 못해요.  (Seunghyun is worse at studying than Ellie.)

이 회사는 전에 일하던 회사보다월급이더 높아요. (The salary at this company is higher than the salary at the company I worked at before.)

              –> Note that 더 is separated from -보다 here. A general rule of adverbs in Korean is to try to place them as close as you can to the verbs they modify.

보다 at the start of a sentence??

Sometimes you will see 보다 at the start of the sentence. In this case, it’s similar to -보다 in the sense that they both indicate a comparison. However, 보다 at the start of a sentence (or somewhere not attached to a noun as previously shown) is an adverb that indicates something is more (insert descriptor here) than anticipated. For example:

A: 주혁 씨는 정말 묵묵하네요. (Juhyeok is pretty quiet.)

B: 좀 친해지면 보다 말이 많은데요. (If you become close with him, he talks more than you might think.)

As you can see, Juhyeok is not really being compared to some external thing. Rather, the comparison is expectation vs. reality.

Happy studying!

Vinny: Is something burning?

Habit: Well it could be my hot mixtape

Vinny: …

Habit: Also the kitchen’s on fire

Vinny: *sigh as he goes to stop the fire* Every goddamn time!

Shout out to the kindergartner who, when asked what they’d want if they could have anything in the world for dinner, responded with, “Broccoli!”

lucidrawings:

What do you mean this never happened?

2+2+2+1 (kisses for Johnny Lawrence)

aka me handing out leaflets to everyone: please kiss johnny lawrence

milaeryn:

Khonshu just wants to protect his Moon Knight