A2
보다 and 제일 — comparing
How Korean compares with 보다 and 더, how 제일 and 가장 form a superlative, and where the compared group is marked.
Korean adjectives do not change to compare — there is no bigger. 보다 attaches to what is being beaten, and 더 (more) goes before the adjective.
기차가 버스보다 빨라요.
Gichaga beoseuboda ppallayo.
The train is faster than the bus.
오늘이 어제보다 더 추워요.
Oneuri eojeboda deo chuwoyo.
It’s colder today than yesterday.
더 is optional. 보다 already carries the comparison, and adding 더 makes it explicit rather than more correct.
Order is flexible
Because 보다 marks its own noun, the phrase can move without ambiguity.
버스보다 기차가 빨라요.
Beoseuboda gichaga ppallayo.
The train is faster than the bus.
Asking
A choice between two takes 뭐 or 어느 것 with 더.
커피하고 차 중에서 뭐가 더 좋아요?
Keopihago cha jung-eseo mwoga deo joayo?
Which do you prefer, coffee or tea?
중에서 — among — is how the field of choice is marked.
Three or more
제일 or 가장 before the adjective. They mean the same thing; 제일 is more spoken, 가장 more written.
이 가게가 제일 싸요.
I gagega jeil ssayo.
This shop is the cheapest.
한국에서 제일 높은 산이에요.
Hangugeseo jeil nopeun sanieyo.
It’s the highest mountain in Korea.
The group being compared within takes 에서, not 에.
한국에 제일 높은 산이에요.
한국에서 제일 높은 산이에요.
한국 is the field the comparison ranges over rather than a place something sits in, so it takes 에서.