Grammar
N보다 N 배
Meaning
IntermediateN boda N bae
States a multiple against a baseline that stays in the sentence. The noun before 보다 is what the figure is measured against and 배 is the counter for -fold, so 평소보다 5배 is five times the usual and 지난해보다 두 배 is twice last year's. Keeping the baseline visible is the part worth noticing: English can float 'five times more' with nothing said about five times what, and this frame cannot. 배 counts the multiple and nothing else — whether the sentence is about a quantity, a price, a rate or a stretch of time is left to the nouns and the verb around it.
Form
배 is a bound noun, so it follows the number with a space (두 배, 세 배, 5배) and takes whatever particle the sentence needs: 두 배가 됐다, 두 배로 늘었다, 두 배를 넘었다. Counting starts at 두 배, since a one-fold multiple says nothing; small multiples normally take native numerals (두 배, 세 배, 네 배) and larger or decimal ones take Sino-Korean digits (10배, 1.5배, 20배). The 보다 phrase comes first and 배 sits between it and the predicate — 지난해보다 두 배 많이 팔렸습니다 — where it works as a bare adverbial with no particle of its own. 배 also stands with no 보다 at all when the baseline is clear from context (매출이 두 배 늘었다).
Examples
지난해보다 두 배 많이 팔렸습니다.
It sold twice as much as last year.
Common mistakes & nuance
The reading that genuinely varies is 배 with a verb of change. 3배 늘었다 is used in Korean reporting both for a figure that ended up three times its old size and, on the stricter reading, for one that grew by three times its old size and therefore ended up at four — and the sentence itself usually does not settle which. Two neighbouring forms are not ambiguous, and it is worth noticing when a writer reaches for them: 3배로 늘었다 marks the result with (으)로 and says the new figure is three times the old, while a stative comparison such as 3배 많다 or 3배 이상 weighs two amounts against each other with no growth verb in play. That is why the example here, 두 배 많이 팔렸다, is safe to read as twice as much. When only 3배 늘다 is on the page, let the surrounding figures decide; if the article gives the before and after numbers, trust those and treat the multiple as a rounding of them. Keep 배 apart from 퍼센트 and 퍼센트포인트 as well — a multiple, a percentage and a percentage point are three different measurements, and Korean statistics writing puts all three in one paragraph.
Similar grammar
- N보다
The same particle, with the size of the gap filled in differently. N보다 on its own leaves the gap vague and usually leans on a degree adverb (어제보다 더 덥다, 버스보다 훨씬 빠르다), which says there is a difference without measuring it. Adding N 배 measures it exactly. Read the compare entry for 보다 first if the question is which noun the comparison is anchored to, since putting 보다 on the wrong one inverts the sentence either way.
- N 넘게
These two combine more often than they compete: 두 배 넘게 늘었다 ('rose by more than twofold') is 배 supplying the multiple and 넘게 saying the real figure sits above it. Used alone, 넘게 gives a threshold rather than a ratio (백 명 넘게), and it strictly excludes the number it follows, which is what separates it from 이상. So 두 배 is exactly twice, 두 배 이상 is twice or more, and 두 배 넘게 is more than twice and cannot be exactly twice.