How do I say “he loves his mother more than his wife”?

Question

So I watched a movie. There was a situation where the main character had to make a decision between his mother and his wife. And he chose his mother. So if I want to express that “He loves his mother more than his wife”. Which of the following would be appropriate. Or there is another way to say it?

他爱他的母亲胜过爱他的妻子.
他比妻子更爱他的母亲.

Translating "I like dogs more than cats" into Chinese is a common challenge for students: the Chinese and English grammar is mismatched, and there's multiple ways of achieving it. It arises a lot, e.g.: A more direct translation for "I [verb] [x] more than [y]" How to say "I prefer x over y"? Mandarin: different ways of asking if someone prefers A to B. — Becky 李蓓, Oct 05 '20 at 03:00

Tang Ho · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-04T18:03:15.290

他比妻子更爱他的母亲 (he compare to his wife, he loves his mother more) means "he loves his mother more than his wife does" and it is not what the English sentence means.
他爱他的母亲胜过爱他的妻子 is correct but wordy, you can reduce it to 他爱(他的)母亲胜过爱(他的)妻子 --> 他爱母亲胜过爱妻子

Replace 胜过 (better than) with 多过 (more than) --> 他爱母亲多过爱妻子

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '20 at 02:34

2

他爱他的母亲胜过爱他的妻子.

他比妻子更爱他的母亲.

These two sentences have different meaning.

answered Oct 05 '20 at 02:34

HungYu Chang

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It is mom not mon, please edit the graphic – Tang Ho Oct 05 '20 at 15:43

How do I say “he loves his mother more than his wife”?

2 Answers2