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 Adj. than another in English.

Subj. + 比 + Noun + Adj. + 得多 / 多了 / 很多

Examples

• 他 比 我 高 得多。Tā bǐ wǒ gāo dé duō.He is a lot taller than I am.
• 狗 比 猫 笨 多了。Gǒu bǐ māo bèn duō le.Dogs are much more stupid than cats.
• 你 比 我 胖 得多。Nǐ bǐ wǒ pàng dé duō.You're a lot fatter than I am.
• 我 比 他 酷 多了。Wǒ bǐ tā kù duō le.I am much cooler than he is.
• 你 妈妈 比 我 妈妈 年轻 很多。Nǐ māma bǐ wǒ māma niánqīng hěn duō.Your mother is much younger than my mother.

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