ほど Part One: Approximations! "So interesting that I'm gonna die!"

Introduction

Welcome to the first of not only two, but THREE lessons covering the venerable 「ほど」! Why does ほど deserve three lessons? It's special. Don't question it.

No but really, ほど is pretty awesome. It's a versatile piece of grammar that sees use in all sorts of scenarios. You're gonna love ほど. You'd better love ほど...

Hey, HOLD THAT DOOR! HOLD THAT DOOR!

〜ほど: It's so interesting that I fell asleep

構成こうせい

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  Verb/い-adjectiveほど

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  Nounほど

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  な-adjectiveなほど
  Example:
  → 去年ほど寒くないね。
  "(It's) not as cold as last year, hey."

ほど has a bunch of different usages, but in a nutshell, it simply means "extent" or "degree". We'll return to this literal meaning as we work through things, but we'll shy away from it in translation, as it tends to be sub-par in most scenarios.