How to use better as an adjective?

Question

I understand how to say, this is better than that, with より and のほうが、but how can I describe a noun as better? For example,

”What is a better method to do this?”

Google translate tells me, より良い仕方はなんですか？But you know, グーグルはちょっと。。。

Answer 1

より良い仕方はなんですか？

This makes perfect sense, but 仕方 is relatively uncommon. I prefer やり方 (colloquial), 方法 (neutral), or 手法 (stiff) instead of 仕方. Note that this question assumes there is a better way. If you want to ask "Is there a better method?", you can say より良い方法はありますか？

In general, より/もっと + adjective + noun will always work. もっと is a bit more colloquial and casual than より.

• 高い本 expensive book
• より高い本／もっと高い本 more expensive book
• 小さいコイン small coin
• より小さいコイン／もっと小さいコイン smaller coin
• よい方法 good method
• よりよい方法／もっとよい方法 better method

This type of より is used right before an adjective, like "more" in English. Technically this より is an adverb. Please don't mix it with より you already know. Such より is a particle and is used after a noun.

• 私の本のほうがあなたの本より高い。 My book is more expensive than your book.