see|thân
English
rank|has|could|our|64|than|some|other|very
Etymology
In etymology, it represents OE. þanne, which was a variant of þonne, meaning "then". It is therefore cognate with German denn ("than") and dann ("then"); in Danish the same word dan serves for both "then" and "than." It represents the old dative case|dative or instrumental case of the pronoun that.
Pronunciation
(stressed): th�n, /ðæn/, /<tt>D{n</tt>/
audio|en-us-than-stressed.ogg|Audio (US), stressed
(unstressed): th�n, /ð�n/, /<tt>D@n</tt>/
audio|en-us-than-unstressed.ogg|Audio (US), unstressed
Preposition
wikipedia
than
- introduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two predicates.
#: Patients diagnosed more recently are probably surviving an average of longer than two years.
Usage notes
w:Prescription (linguistics)|Usage prescriptionists have a number of rules concerning than. In formal grammar, than is not a preposition to govern the oblique case (although it has been used as such by writers such as w:William Shakespeare|William Shakespeare, whose 1600 play w:Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar contains the line A man no mightier than thyself or me. . ., and w:Samuel Johnson|Samuel Johnson, who wrote No man had ever more discernment than him, in finding out the ridiculous.). Than functions as both conjunction and preposition; when it is used as a conjunction, it governs the nominative case, and when a preposition, the oblique case. To determine the case of a pronoun following "than", a writer can look to implied words and determine how they would relate to the pronoun.
Examples :
You are a better swimmer than she.
- represents You are a better swimmer than she is.
- therefore You are a better swimmer than her is a solecism.
They like you more than her.
- represents They like you more than they like her.
- therefore They like you more than she is a solecism, if it attempts to represent the previous sentence. It may be correct, however, if it represents They like you more than she likes you.
It must be noted that some prescriptionists insist that whom must follow than (not who); although according to the above rule, who would be the "correct" form. Critics of this often cite this mandatory exception as evidence that the prescriptionist rule is logically erroneous, in addition to it being inconsistent with well-established usage.
Translations
Albanian: se#Albanian|se, sesa#Albanian|sesa
Arabic: ARchar|�� unicode|(min)
Basque: baino
Breton: eget
Chinese: � (b�)
Czech: než
Danish: end
Dutch: dan
Esperanto: ol
Finnish: kuin
French: que
German: als
Hungarian: mint#Hungarian|mint
mid
Ido: kam
Italian: di, che
Japanese: ...�� (...yori)
Korean: ~보� (~boda)
Norwegian: enn
Polish: niż
Portuguese: que, do que
Romanian: ca, decat
Russian: �ем (�em)
Spanish: que
Swedish: än
Telugu: ���� (kaMTe)
Category:100 English basic words
Category:English prepositions
ar:than
fr:than
ko:than
io:than
it:than
hu:than
ja:than
pl:than
pt:than
simple:than
fi:than
ta:than
te:than
vi:than
tr:than
zh:than
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