より / よりも

より means "than". It goes straight after the thing you are comparing against, and the adjective comes last: A は B より 大きいです is "A is bigger than B".

The adjective does not change. Japanese has no "-er" ending and needs no word for "more" here: より alone makes it a comparison.

Which noun takes より

The order is the reverse of English, where "than" comes after the adjective. The noun with より on it is always the one that loses. To say "dogs are bigger than cats", ×ねこは犬より大きいです is wrong – that sentence says cats are bigger.

B より A のほうが

The winner often takes のほうが instead of は. ほう means "side" or "direction", so A のほうが is "the A side is more…". The meaning is the same as with は, and the より half can come first or second.

This is also how you answer a question that asks you to choose between two things. The より half is usually left out of the answer.

Usage notes

These go beyond comparing two nouns.

Comparing actions

A verb in front of より and ほうが is in its dictionary form, with no の.

Than expected

After a past-tense verb such as おもっていた思っていた, or a time word such as まえ前, より compares with what you expected or how things used to be.

よりも

も after より adds weight and changes nothing else. After a question word it means "than any": だれ誰よりも is "than anyone", なん何よりも "than anything", どこよりも "than anywhere".

"Than usual" is いつもより or いつもよりも, built on いつも, "always", not on the question word いつ.

• × いつよりも早く起きた → いつもよりも早く起きた

Rather than

After a verb, よりも sets aside one course of action in favour of the one that follows.