Comparison

보다: how Korean compares two things

Comparison in Korean is one of the few areas where the grammar is easier than English, once you accept that the pieces come in a different order.

The basic shape

보다 (boda) means "than", and it attaches to the noun that loses the comparison — the thing you're measuring against.

• 영화보다 책이 좋아요. (yeonghwa-boda chaeg-i joayo) — "I like books more than movies."

English says "than movies" with the word in front. Korean says 영화보다, with the particle riding on the back of 영화 (yeonghwa, "movie"). Whatever carries 보다 is the thing being beaten.

The full pattern looks like this:

[the loser]보다 [the winner]이/가 더 [adjective]

• 이것보다 저것이 더 비싸요. (igeot-boda jeogeos-i deo bissayo) — "That one is more expensive than this one."
• 여름보다 겨울이 더 좋아요. (yeoreum-boda gyeoul-i deo joayo) — "I like winter more than summer."

더 is optional, and 덜 flips it

더 (deo) means "more". You'll see it in most comparison sentences, but the sentence still works without it, because 보다 already carries the comparison.

• 형보다 키가 커요. (hyeong-boda ki-ga keoyo) — "I'm taller than my older brother."

덜 (deol) means "less", and it lets you compare downward instead:

• 오늘은 어제보다 덜 추워요. (oneul-eun eoje-boda deol chuwoyo) — "Today is less cold than yesterday."

For a bigger gap, 훨씬 (hwolssin, "far, much") does the work:

• 지하철이 버스보다 훨씬 빨라요. (jihacheol-i beoseu-boda hwolssin ppallayo) — "The subway is much faster than the bus."

Word order is flexible, as usual

Because 보다 is attached to its noun, the chunk can move.

• 영화보다 책이 좋아요.
• 책이 영화보다 좋아요.

Both are fine and both mean the same thing. This is the same principle that runs through the whole language: the particle carries the role, so the position is free. Whichever you put first gets a little more attention.

Don't confuse it with the verb 보다

This is worth knowing before it confuses you in the wild. There's a verb 보다 (boda) that means "to see" or "to watch", and it's spelled identically.

• 영화를 봐요. (yeonghwa-reul bwayo) — "I watch a movie." Verb.
• 영화보다 책이 좋아요. Particle.

They're unrelated, and telling them apart is easy in practice: the particle sticks straight onto a noun with no space and never conjugates, while the verb sits where verbs sit and changes its ending.

For the top of the scale

보다 compares two things. When you want "the most", Korean switches to 제일 (jeil) or 가장 (gajang), and no 보다 is involved:

• 겨울이 제일 좋아요. (gyeoul-i jeil joayo) — "I like winter the most."