Expressing "much more" in comparisons

If you want to up the intensity of your comparisons, you might want to express "much more." You can do this using 多 (duō), but did you know there are actually three different ways to do it?

Structure

As well as expressing that two things differ, you might want to go further and say that they differ a lot by adding 得多 / 多了/ 很多 (dé duō/duō le/hěn duō). This is like saying that one thing is much more adjective than another in English.

Subject + 比 + Noun + Adjective + 得多 / 多了 / 很多

Examples

• 他 比 我 高 得多。He is a lot taller than I am.
• 狗 比 猫 笨 多了。Dogs are much more stupid than cats.
• 你 比 我 胖 得多。You're a lot fatter than I am.
• 我 比 他 酷 多了。I am much cooler than he is.
• 她 比 我 年 轻 得多。She is much younger than me.
• 哇! 你 的 房 间 比 我 的 大 多了！ Wow! Your room is much bigger than mine!

See also

• Expressing "a bit too"
• Basic comparisons with "bi"
• The "zui" superlative
• Basic comparisons with "bu bi"

Sources and further reading

Books

• New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (新实用汉语课本4) (pp. 20) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 6- 8) →buy

Websites

• East Asia Student: Graded comparisons in Mandarin Chinese