‘Then’ vs.’Than’
What is the difference?
A mistake learners of English often make is to confuse than and then.
Than
In most cases, than is a conjunction. As a conjunction, than comes before the second part of an unequal comparison (= vor dem zweiten Teil in einem Vergleich zweier ungleicher Dinge). PONS suggests the mnemonic device: than mit a wird mit als übersetzt.
Imogen can run faster than Sean.
Than also comes in phrases after terms like other and rather before a less preferred option in a choice (= vor der weniger bevorzugten Option in einer Wahl):
I’d rather read a book than watch a film.
Then
Then is an adverb in most contexts. We use it to refer to a point in time or to show the order of a sequence of events.
I’ll first do my English homework, then Maths, and then French.
Then can also mean ‘in that case’:
You have a cat, don’t you? Do you have to go to the vet often, then?
There are other functions of than and then but if you know the rules above, you can avoid most mistakes.
Exercise
Click here for an exercise on than vs. then.