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Adjective (い)
| (of quantity or number) a lot | Many; a lot of; much |
| 【Related Expression: 大勢; たくさん】 | |
| 【Antonym Expression: 少ない】 | |
(ks). 日本(に)は大学が多いです。
In Japan universities are many.
(a). 京都(に)はお寺が多いです。
There are many temples in Kyoto.
(b). ロスさんの作文(に)は間違いが多いです。
There are many mistakes in Mr. Ross's compositions.
(c). 一月(に)は雪が多い。
There is a lot of snow in January.
1. Unlike the English 'many' the Japanese 多い cannot be used before a noun, except in a relative clause where 多い is the predicate of the clause, not the modifier of the head noun.
2. 多い cannot be used in front of a noun, but 多くの can be used that way in written Japanese. Thus,
3. 少ない, an antoymn of 多い, is very similar to 多い in its use. Neither 少ない nor 多い can be used before nouns, except in relative clauses. 少ない differs from 多い in that there is no counterpart of 多く 'the majority' and of 多くの 'many'.
【Related Expressions】
I. 多い and 多くの can be replaced by 大勢いる and 大勢の, respectively, if 多い and 多く no refer to human beings. 大勢 is used only for people.
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[2]
大勢 can be used by itself as an adverb, but the adverbial form of 多い cannot be used as an adverb in colloquial speech.
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II. 多い and 多くの can be replaced by たくさんある/いる and たくさんの, respectively. たくさん can also be used by itself as an adverb.
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多く can be used as a noun but 大勢 and たくさん cannot.
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