多(おお)くの

Built from the noun 多(おお)く ("many; a lot" — the nominal form of the i-adjective 多(おお)い) + の. The resulting phrase functions as an attributive modifier, always placed before a noun.

Common collocations

• 多(おお)くの人(ひと): many people
• 多(おお)くの場合(ばあい): in many cases
• 多(おお)くの時間(じかん): a lot of time
• 多(おお)くの問題(もんだい): many problems
• 多(おお)くの国(くに): many countries
• 多(おお)くの学生(がくせい): many students
• 多(おお)くの企業(きぎょう): many companies

Similar words

• たくさんの: many, lots of — conversational; used with both countable and uncountable nouns. More frequent in speech.
• 大勢(おおぜい)の: many (only for people; crowds of people)
• 数(かず)多(おお)くの: numerous (even more emphatic than 多(おお)くの; written)
• 数多(あまた): many (literary; somewhat archaic)
• いろんな / 様々(さまざま)な: various (emphasizes variety rather than raw count)

Register

多(おお)くの is the standard written and semi-formal choice. It appears in newspapers, essays, textbooks, speeches, and business writing. In everyday conversation, たくさんの or simply たくさん is more natural.

Watch out

Learners who start from the adjective 多(おお)い often try *多(おお)い人(ひと) or *多(おお)い問題(もんだい). On its own, 多(おお)い does not go directly before a noun to mean "many": use 多(おお)くの + noun (多(おお)くの人(ひと)), or use 多(おお)い as a predicate (人(ひと)が多(おお)い). 多(おお)い can modify a noun only with its own subject in a relative clause: 雨(あめ)の多(おお)い季節(きせつ) (a rainy season), 友達(ともだち)が多(おお)い人(ひと) (a person with many friends).