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If I wanted to ask, `Which is faster the red car or the blue car?` I could
phrase it as:

> 赤い｛あかい｝車｛くるま｝は青い｛あおい｝車より速い｛はやい｝ですか？

or

> 赤い｛あかい｝車｛くるま｝と青い｛あおい｝車とどちらが速い｛はやい｝ですか？

But when would I use 1 (wa...yori) instead of 2 (to...to dochira ga?) or vice-
versa? Can I use either form interchangeably or can I only use one of them
certain situations?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-15T03:09:49.277
19518
2014-11-15T06:06:03.610
2014-11-15T06:06:03.610
769
question
word-choice phrase-requests comparative-constructions
When to use ＸはＹより vs ＸとＹとどちらが……？
> 赤い車は青い車より速いですか？  
>  = Is the red car faster than the blue car?

The topic of the sentence is the red car. You are more interested in the red
car, or you are expecting the red car is faster.

> 赤い車と青い車と、どちらが速いですか？  
>  = Which is faster, the red car or the blue car?

You are treating the two cars equally. There is no expectation about which one
is faster in this sentence.

Whether you can use them interchangeably depends on the context.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-15T03:54:45.460
19519
2014-11-15T03:54:45.460
5010
19518
answer