What does the word 'yori' mean in Japanese? And how exactly does it function?

Question

My Japanese teacher told me that the phrase "no hou ga" means "more than." What then does "yori" mean?


Here's an example of the hiragana word in question:

Watashi no uchi no hou ga anata no uchi "yori"ookii desu yo.



From this sentence I would conclude that yori means 'than.' However, it's used completely differently in this next sentence...

Ima mearii san wa, mae 'yori,' nihongo de hanasu no hou ga ii desu.

In this example the 'no hou ga' is completely dropped and yet the sentence still is translated as "Meariisan wasn't as good at speaking japanese before as she is now."

Could someone knowledgable in Japanese kindly explain what yori means here? Thanks a bunch (>-_->) (<-_-<)

Answer 1

"yori" means "from" or "....... than" or "before"
in your example "watashi no uchi no hou ga anata no uchi yori ookii desu yo",in english "my house is bigger than yours."
while in your second example:"ima mearii san wa mae yori,nihongo de hanasu no hou ga ii" in english "merry speaks japanese better now than before"

(^^)

Answer 2

Yori Japanese

Answer 3

yori = than, -er attached to the adjective/adverb (as in highER, fastER,etc) It's the comparative used when 2 things are being compared. The examples you've given both contain 'no hou ga'

Answer 4

Yori and no hou ga are used together when comparing things. Things attached to "no hou ga" are better than what goes with yori. You can drop one or the other when it's understandable from the context what you're saying. Yori also means "than" or you could think of it as "in comparison to..."

"Watashi no uchi no hou ga ookii desu yo" can still mean "My house is bigger!" adding "anata no uchi yori" just firmly states whose house my house is bigger than in case it wasn't decipherable from the context of the conversation.
You could also see the sentence as "In comparison to your house, my house is bigger!"

"Ima Mearii san wa, mae yori, nihongo de hanase no hou ga ii desu" is like "As for Mearii san now, rather than before, she is better at speaking Japanese". You could say "Ima Mearii san wa nihongo de hanasu no hou ga ii desu" and it would still be clear from that she's better at speaking Japanese now (it would be strange to be better at speaking a language in the past when you don't know as much).

Answer 5

As mentioned by others, "yori" & "hou ga" usually come as a pair. But what exactly do they mean individually?

yori = than
hou ga = is more

Eg.
Watashi no uchi no hou ga anata no uchi yori ookii desu.
(My house is bigger than yours.)

Now, let us look at the 2nd example you gave and you will get point. It's grammatically incorrect and unnatural. What I would suggest is:

Ima no mearii san wa, mae yori, nihongo ga motto hanaseru you ni natte kimashita.
(Mary can speak Japanese better as compared to before / Mary can speak Japanese better than before)

As you can see, "yori" can also be used without the accompaniment of "hou ga". If you want to say the same thing using "hou ga", it would be:

Mearii san wa, mae yori, ima no hou ga nihongo ga hanasemasu.

--------------------

Just an additional note of the use of "hou ga":

Noun + no + hou ga ----- Eg. watashi no hou ga
Verb (casual form) + hou ga ----- Eg. iku hou ga
I-adjective + hou ga ----- Eg. yasui hou ga
Na-adjective + na + hou ga ----- Eg. kantan na hou ga

--------------------

Well, hope I have clarified your doubts. Ganbatte kudasai! ^_^

Answer 6

[edit] yori
Yori can mean "from", and is also used to make comparisons.

Kono densha-wa, Kashiwa-yori saki, kaku eki-ni tomarimasu "This train will stop at every station after Kashiwa".
Dare-yori-mo kanemochi-ni naritai "I want to become richer than anyone (else)".
Yori is usually written より in hiragana.

Answer 7

Wow... you have got a lot of great answers!!! I think animeboy gave you a real clear explanation of how to use "より”

One more usage of "yori" I would like to add here is when we write letter or fax or message to others it would be the salution to put after your name, i.e. it means "from"

for eg. in English you write Yours faithfully, or Sincerely yours,....

But in Japanese letter writing, it would be end like this:
Japanese write 宜しくお願い致します as the last sentense in business letter (means like thank you for your kind co-operation)

では　吉田　より = bye from Yoshida

De wa means bye,

Answer 8

Easiest way to learn Japanese, Watching anime XD