N이/가 N만 못하다

위염이 심하네요. 식사는 제때 하세요?
Gastritis is severe. Do you eat your meals on time?
바빠서 아침은 못 먹고 홍차를 자주 마셔요.
I am busy so I do not eat breakfast but drink black tea often.
공복에 홍차를 마시면 위염이 심해질 수 있어요.
Drinking black tea on an empty stomach can cause gastritis.
저는 커피 대신 홍차를 자주 마시는데 안 좋은 건가요?
I drink black tea more often than coffee, is that not healthy?
네, 홍차도 카페인이 많아서 커피처럼 위를 자극하거든요.
Yes, black tea also has a lot of caffeine so it stimulates the stomach like coffee.
어떤 음료만 못하군요.
Any drink is not better than water.

N이/가 N만 못하다
It is used with a noun. It is used when the front noun or thing is worse than the back noun or the following noun.

오늘 생선 어제 생선만 못하네요.
Today’s fish is not fresh as yesterday’s fish.

신형 핸드폰 구형 핸드폰만 못해서 손님들이 찾지 않아요.
The newly updated cell phone is not better than the old fashion of cell phone so that customers do not ask about them.

이 영화는 소설을 각색한 것인데 영화 소설만 못한 것 같아요.
This movie is fictionalized by the novel, however, the movie is not like the novel.

Related words
위염 gastritis
제때 each right time
공복 empty stomach
카페인 caffeine
자극하다 to stimulate
음료 a drink

Source: Yonsei University. Korean Language Institute

See also  N이나/나³ Express the speaker thinks that the quantity or the degree is large or high

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