くらいなら details
write + rather than ...
kaku kurai nara
rather than ... (a despised alternative)
meaning: rather than write
電車で一時間も待つくらいなら歩いて帰ります。
densha de ichijikan mo matsu kurai nara aruite kaerimasu.
I'll walk home rather than wait a whole hour for the train. neutral
謝るくらいなら死んだほうがましだ。
ayamaru kurai nara shinda hou ga mashi da.
I'd rather die than apologize. casual
- colloquial
Examples
rather than V (a despised option) — sets up a course of action the speaker holds in contempt, favoring almost any alternative over it
電車で一時間も待つくらいなら歩いて帰ります。
densha de ichijikan mo matsukurainara aruite kaerimasu.
I'll walk home rather than wait a whole hour for the train. neutral
謝るくらいなら死んだほうがましだ。
ayamaru kurai nara shinda hou ga mashi da.
I'd rather die than apologize. casual
この条件で契約するくらいなら、取引を中止したほうがよろしいかと存じます。
kono jouken de keiyaku suru kurai nara, torihiki o chuushi shita hou ga yoroshii ka to zonjimasu.
I believe it would be better to cancel the deal than sign a contract under these terms. formal
Formation
{V}くらいならattaches to dictionary form
Variant notes
- ぐらいなら — same interchange as くらい／ぐらい elsewhere — ぐらい skews spoken, くらい is the safer written pick
Notes
ほうがいい／まし／ほうがましだ — a bare くらいなら on its own with no
stated alternative sounds like it's trailing off.
Related patterns
Similar
くらいなら borrows より's comparison shape but drops the shared scale entirely — より ranks two items on one named dimension (安いより高い), while くらいなら just names one option as so undesirable that the speaker would take almost ANY alternative instead, with no dimension named at all; より compares neutrally, くらいなら drips with contempt for the first.
Both gloss as "rather than", but というより corrects how something should be DESCRIBED with no value judgment implied (プロというよりファン is neutral), while くらいなら pits two ACTIONS against each other and voices contempt for the first (謝るくらいなら死んだほうがまし) — pick というより to relabel something, くらいなら to reject a course of action.
Lookalikes
Same syllables, unrelated jobs — plain くらい estimates a quantity or extent (十分くらい, 死ぬくらい嬉しい), while くらいなら fuses くらい with なら into a fixed frame comparing two actions and rejecting the first one in disgust; reading くらいなら as "about, if" misses the idiom entirely.