Wednesday, August 30, 2017

suffixes - What is 方 used for (when attached to a た-verb)?


I have the following sentence:




  • 早く行った方が良かったでしょう。


Here, if we take it apart we shall have:



  • 早く(Adverb) 行った(Verb, Past tense) 方(?) が(GA, Subject particle) 良かったでしょう(Verb, Past tense) 。


What is the function of 方 in this position? I've read that it can be suffix, suffix of what?



Answer



A方{ほう}がB means "more B if A" or "Ber if A":




早く行った方が良かったでしょう。
It would have been better [more good] if (we/you/I etc) had gone early, would it not?



The here indicates a direction/side when comparing 2 or more things ([3] (イ) of this definition at Daijirin), in this case implying going early would have been better than going later.


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