Negative comparisons, hodo no wa nai...

[Flinxpip]

Ok, I came accross this structure while studying for the JLPT 3 hodo wa nai and am not clear on it. So I checked out the grammar bank and then tried to make some sample sentences but I am still not that clear on it. I haven't been able to find much information on this structure online...

I would like to know how to say things like he's not as fast as... or not as tall as... not as delicious as... so something like this maybe:

(noun 1) hodo no (noun 2) wa nai

(noun 1) hodo no (noun 2) wa negative form of the verb

(noun 1) hodo no (noun 2) wa negative form of the adjective...

[Psy]

From my understanding, ~~hodo~~wa nai is pretty well a set expression, which is basically another way of forming a superlative. For instance, I first learned this grammar from the saying jibun no uchi gurai ii basho wa nai (hodo can be replaced with gurai though gurai feels less objective), which means "there's no place as nice as one's home." Another example from one grammar guide I'm using is kazoku hodo taisetsu na mono wa nai, which is "there is nothing more important than family." More literally "to the extent of family, nothing important exists."

For regular comparisons that don't utilize this like "he's not as tall as," you can just use yori with negatives:

(noun 1) wa (noun 2) yori oishikunai ("not as delicious as")

or just simply

(noun 2) no hou ga oishii ("is the more delicious [of the two]")

Hope that was at least a little enlightening. Corrections welcome!

[Rod Wadd]

If you wanted to use "hodo," how about

shinkansen hodo hayakunai : Not as fast as the shink.

or hayai kedo, shinkansen hodo dewanai. Fast, but not as fast as the shinkansen.

?

[Psy]

My brain must have left me or something. Thanks for that one, Rod. I've really gotta practice more.

[QuackingShoe]

Hodo pretty much just describes the extent of whatever. So as was said, shinkansen hodo hayakunai = to the extent of the shinkansen it's slow (it's not as fast as the shinkansen).
It's used in positive sentences too. Classic example is kono shigoto wa kodomo de mo dekiru hodo yasashii desu. To the extent that even a child can do it this job is easy (This job is so easy even a child could do it). Or kyou wa benkyou ga dekinai hodo tsukareta. To the extent that I can't study today I'm tired (I'm so tired I can't study today).
It seems kindof complicated on the surface, but it's actually pretty simple when you get down to it. Trickiest thing is that it just goes completely backward structure wise, but Japanese is always doing that, so hey...