adverbadverb

eher

rather

Dieses Wort benutzt man, wenn man sagt, dass etwas wahrscheinlicher ist als etwas anderes oder früher passiert.

Definition & meaning

eher is an adverb with several closely related meanings:

rather / more likely — expressing preference, probability, or approximation.
- Das ist eher schwierig. — “That is rather difficult.”
- Er ist eher ruhig als laut. — “He is rather quiet than loud.”
- Sie kommt eher morgen. — “She is more likely to come tomorrow.”
sooner / earlier — referring to an earlier time.
- Je eher, desto besser. — “The sooner, the better.”
- Ich wäre eher gegangen. — “I would have left earlier.”
preferably / rather — often used to make a preference sound less direct.
- Ich würde eher zu Hause bleiben. — “I would rather stay at home.”
- Eher nicht. — “Probably not” or “Rather not.”

The meaning is determined by context. It can indicate either a preference, a higher probability, a lower degree, or an earlier time.

Grammar & Word origin

eher is an adverb and is not inflected. It is historically the comparative form of , meaning “already,” “ever,” or “beforehand,” although and eher do not always have the same modern meaning.

It is often used with als:

als — “rather than” or “more likely than”
Er liest eher Bücher als Zeitungen. — “He reads books rather than newspapers.”

It can also modify adjectives and adverbs:

eher klein — “rather small”
eher selten — “rather rarely”
eher langsam — “rather slowly”

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms

— “rather” or “preferably”; it expresses a clearer personal preference, whereas eher can also mean “more likely” or “to a greater degree.”
— “earlier”; it is more specifically about time, while eher can also express probability or preference.
— “more likely”; this is more explicitly about probability.
— “fairly” or “quite”; it indicates degree, but does not normally express preference or timing.
— “preferably”; this is more formal and directly expresses preference.