Comments on: Conversation – Hou ga, Yori

By: Boston

Boston — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:31:45 +0000

むしあつい(mushiatsui) = humid

“Hon ga arimasu” means either “someone has a book” or “there is a book”.

“Hon ni arimasu” should mean “(it) is in the book”.

hou designates the thing which is more in whatever category is being compared,
yori designates the thing which is less in that adjectival category.
yori does not literally translate to anything in english, especially not “than”

By: Jessie

Jessie — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:59:27 +0000

I’m trying to translate a sentence that uses hou ga. This is the first time I’ve come across it, so I’m having a bit of trouble. The sentence is “Josei ga ita hou ga aite ga yudansuru no yo”. I can’t quite tell how “hou ga” translates in this sentence.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:27:07 +0000

Well, it is a ‘comparative word”. In English – tall = taller, short = shorter.

Example:
Kobayashi san no hō ga takai desu (Kobayashi is taller) – In this case, I don’t use “more” or “than”.

Kare no ie no hō ga watashi no ie yori hiroi desu (His house is wider than my house) – In this example, I use the combination of “hō ga” & “yori” and “than” will be used in the translation.

In other word, “yori” means “than”

By: Wunsche

Wunsche — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:33:29 +0000

And I right to say that ‘hou ga’ stands for ‘more’? More cold than. More hot than.

By: Nigel

Nigel — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:09:29 +0000

Thanks for this informative page

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:27:28 +0000

Hi kewell,
yes, you may use “ni arimasu” if the question is asked based on my example above.

By: Kewell

Kewell — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:05:59 +0000

Yeah, so ichiban ue no tana desu is right? Is it possible to use ni arimasu rather than desu? I thought ni arimasu sound more appropriate

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:56:32 +0000

Hi Kewell,
I think you translate is wrongly for “ichiban ue no tana desu”. This means “the shelf at the most top OR the highest shelf” NOT “at most top of the shelf”

This will normally use when someone is asking “where do you put the pencil” and the reply is “the shelf at the most top”

“Oniisan” is polite form where “Ani” is normal form. Both are the same.

By: Kewell

Kewell — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:33:41 +0000

For example, my brother sensei who was from Osaka thought him that “if you address your elder brother you should address him Ani.” While mine told me that I should address the elder brother Oniisan. Weird eh..

By: Kewell

Kewell — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:30:56 +0000

Hi, I understand that yours make sense when it translate to mandarin but this is what I learned in school. Damn, why does different teacher thought different things? It only make the student feel complicated. Mine was from Hokkaido, how about yours?