What’s The Difference Between Then And Than?

Do you get confused when using these two words? If so, this article will be extremely helpful to you. You’ll learn the difference between ‘then’ and ‘than’ right now and never get confused when you have to use these words anymore!

If you’ve been confused about when to use either ‘than’ or ‘then’, you’re not alone. This is a very common confusion spread worldwide. This is due to the fact that both words not only look like one another but they also sound similar, especially for speakers of English as an additional language who find it very hard to distinguish between the sounds [ðæn, ðən] and [ðen].

Additionally, these two words are among the 1.000 (one thousand) most common words in the English language. This means two different and important things. The first one is that mastering them is essential if you want to master the language as a whole. The second one is that people misuse them all the time, so be careful with wrong uses that may lead you to commit mistakes too.

Being it a common confusion between so-called native speakers and speakers of English as an additional language, let’s understand how these two words work and what distinguishes them.

Difference between ‘than’ and ‘then’

As said before, when thinking about the difference between ‘than’ and ‘then’ you have to understand that the very basic feature that keeps them apart is that ‘than’ is related to comparisons, and ‘then’ is related to time.

Than

Having said that, phrases related to comparisons will always be written with ‘than’, such as taller than, smaller than, younger than, older than, more beautiful than, more handsome than, hotter than, colder than, more interesting than, and so on. ‘Than’ usually follows the words less (less than), more (more than), other (other than), rather (rather than).

What’s the difference between using ‘than’ as a preposition and using it as a conjunction?

Traditionally, grammarians would say that ‘than’ is a conjunction, thus it would be always followed by a subordinate clause (subject pronoun + verb).

I am taller than he is.

In everyday communication, however, people use ‘than’ as a preposition, thus it’s followed by an object pronoun.

I am taller than him.

Most of the time using ‘than’ as a preposition is perfectly ok. Sometimes, it can produce an ambiguous sentence, though.

My mother likes cooking more than me.

In this sentence, it’s not clear whether My mother likes cooking more than she likes me or whether My mother likes cooking more than I like cooking.

Just be careful with these situations, especially when writing, which requires a higher level of formality. In this case, sticking with the use of ‘than’ as a conjunction (My mother likes cooking more than I like cooking) is the safest way to go.

Also, the word ‘than’ is unique. It can’t be replaced easily. This is different for ‘then’, which you’ll see below.

Then

Phrases related to time, however, will always be written with ‘then’, such as the then-president, the then-manager of the company, until then, since then, from then on, every now and then, just then, back then, even then, only then, there and then, and so on.

You can also use ‘then’ in a conditional sentence (if…, then…). For example, If I drink coffee now, then I won’t be able to sleep well.

The word ‘then’ sometimes can be replaced by other words with the same, or at least a similar meaning. Such words are after, subsequently, afterwards, next, later, among others.

Another use of the word ‘then’ is to indicate a consequence. It could be thought of as a synonym of the phrases as a consequence and in that case. For example, If you had taken care of your health properly, then you wouldn’t have had this problem and Are you sure, then?

Easy way to remember the difference between ‘than’ and ‘then’

• thAn is related to compArisons
• thEn is related to timE

An easy strategy, isn’t it?

Etymology

If you like curiosities about words, here’s a bonus. The difficulty in distinguishing these two words has a historical explanation. In Middle English, people used the same word in both cases, to refer to both time and comparisons. Both spellings were used interchangeably. For the past few hundred years, however, English has started to differentiate ‘than’ from ‘then’. As contemporary speakers of the language, we are supposed to follow the trend.

If you want to master every aspect of English grammar, take a look at our awesome article on the best books to learn English grammar.