nihongo wo benkyou shitai

日本語：	[X] は [Y] より [adjective] です。
日本語：	[X] の方が [Y] より [adjective] です。
English:	X is more adjective than Y.

Again, I have looked at comparisons before, but I've since learnt a new construction and so I thought now would be a good time to cover them again.

One useful construct is to be able to say item A is more something than item B. The basic construct for this is [X] は [Y] より {adjective} です. Here, より can be translated as 'than' and it follows the item which is the lesser of the two being compared.

例文

English:	Japanese summers are more humid than English summers.
Jenglish:	[Japanese summer][English summer][than][humid]
日本語：	日本の夏はイギリスの夏より蒸し暑いです。

English:	London is bigger than Basingstoke.
Jenglish:	[London][Basingstoke][than][big]
日本語：	ロンドンはベージングストークより大きいです。

Things can get a little confusing due to the ability of the Japanese language to move things around. For example the sentences:

ロンドンはベージングストークより大きいです。
ベージングストークよりロンドンは大きいです。

are the same.

Just as in English, you can shorten comparitive statements if the two things being compared are already understood.

日本の夏もイギリスの夏も好きです。でも、日本の夏はイギリスの夏より蒸し暑いです。
"I like both Japanese summers and English summers. But Japanese summers are more humid than English summers."

This is a perfectly acceptable sentence, but it feels a little 'odd'. We already know what Japanese summers are more humid than, so why state it? Just as English allows us simply to say "Japanese summers are more humid", Japanese have an equivalent.

日本の夏の方が蒸し暑いです。
"Japanese summers are more humid."

We've omitted the より part of the sentence and used の方が to mark the primary attribute, however you don't have to. 方が sentences can still contain より components. Also, in the examples above, I've been comparing nouns, but these could equally have been adjectives or verb clauses. Use the following conjugation chart.

[verb (short)] 方が [verb (base 1/3)] より [adjective] です。

English:	Giving is better than receiving.
Jenglish:	[giving][receiving][than][better]
日本語：	あげる方がくれるよりいいです。

[adjective (short)] 方が [adjective (non-past)] より [adjective] です。

English:	Being clean is better than being messy.
Jenglish:	[being clean][being messy][than][better]
日本語：	きれいな方が目茶目茶なよりいいです。

See JapanesePod101's Beginner's Lesson 75 for more examples and information!

またね。。。