日本語

Grammar

N보다

Meaning

BeginnerN boda

보다 is a particle that attaches to a noun and marks that noun as the standard of comparison — 'than N', 'compared with N'. The thing you are comparing against comes before 보다, and the thing you are describing is the subject: 오늘이 어제보다 덥습니다 means 'today is hotter than yesterday'. Adverbs such as 더 ('more') or 훨씬 ('much, by far') are often added after the 보다 phrase to say how big the gap is.

Form

보다 attaches straight onto a noun with no change for a final consonant: 어제보다, 작년보다, 버스보다. It is a particle, not a verb ending, so it is written attached to the noun with no space — writing it as -보다 with a hyphen, as though it followed a verb stem, is misleading. Any degree adverb goes after the 보다 phrase and before the predicate: 어제보다 더 덥다 ('hotter than yesterday'), 버스보다 훨씬 빠르다 ('much faster than the bus'). Both 더 and 훨씬 are optional, since 어제보다 춥다 is already a complete comparison.

Examples

Common mistakes & nuance

The most common mistake is putting 보다 on the wrong noun. 오늘이 어제보다 덥습니다 says today is the hotter one; 어제가 오늘보다 덥습니다 says the opposite. Korean also has a separate adverb 보다 meaning 'more', used before an adjective in written style (보다 나은 결과, 'a better result') — that one is its own word and takes a space after it, so do not confuse it with the particle.

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