After studying with this lesson, you can compare two things or people and say that something is better something else, or someone is taller than someone else, in Korean.
How to say “more” in Korean:
In Korean, the word for “more” is 더 [deo]. In English relatively short words change their forms instead of having the word “more” in front of them, like shorter, hotter, faster, but in Korean all the words just have this word 더 attached before them.
Example:
빠르다 = to be fast
더 빠르다 = to be faster
비싸다 = to be expensive
더 비싸다 = to be more expensive
예뻐요. = It’s pretty. / You’re pretty. / She’s pretty.
더 예뻐요. = It’s prettier. / You’re prettier. / She’s prettier.
How to say “than” in Korean:
The word for “than” or “compared to” is 보다 [bo-da].
The basic construction for this is not very complicated, but the word order in Korean is completely different from English. Let us compare the two.
English: A watermelon is bigger than an apple.
Korean: 수박은 사과보다 더 커요. [su-ba-geun sa-gwa-bo-da keo-yo.]
** In the English sentence above, the word “than” comes BEFORE “apple” but in Korean, the word -보다 [bo-da] (which means “than”) comes AFTER 사과 [sa-gwa], which means “apple”.
Construction:
than A = A보다
more (verb/adjective/adverb) than A = A보다 더 (verb/adjective/adverb)
Example
1)
to be big = 크다 [keu-da]
to be bigger = 더 크다 [deo keu-da]
It’s bigger. = 더 커요. [deo keo-yo.]
It’s bigger than this one. 이거보다 더 커요. [i-geo-bo-da deo keo-yo.]
2)
to be nice (to people) = 착하다 [cha-ka-da]
to be nicer = 더 착하다 [deo cha-ka-da]
현우 is nicer. = 현우 씨는 더 착해요.
현우 is nicer than 경은. = 현우 씨는 경은 씨보다 더 착해요.
** 더 [deo] is not always necessary in Korean sentences. In English, it would be weird if you said “She’s busy than me.” instead of “She’s busier than me.” but in Korean the meaning is perfectly clear even without the word 더 [deo].
Sample sentences
1. 오늘은 어제보다 더워요. [o-neu-reun eo-je-bo-da deo-wo-yo.]
= Today is hotter than yesterday.
2. 영어는 한국어보다 어려워요. [yeong-eo-neun han-gu-geo-bo-da eo-ryeo-wo-yo.]
= English is more difficult than Korean.
3. 어제보다 일찍 갈 거예요. [eo-je-bo-da il-jjik gal geo-ye-yo.]
= I’m going to go earlier than yesterday.
4. 현정 씨가 저보다 더 잘 해요. [hyeon-jeong ssi-ga jeo-bo-da deo jal hae-yo.]
= Hyeonjeong is better than me (at doing that).
5. 저는 책을 읽는 것보다 사는 것을 더 좋아해요. [jeo-neun chae-geul il-neun geot-bo-da sa-neun geo-seul deo jo-a-hae-yo.]
= I like buying books more than reading books.