3 · Comparison
More and more: yuèláiyuè and yuè … yuè
progressive and correlative comparison
Yuèláiyuè describes a change that keeps growing; yuè … yuè ties one change to another.
越来越 before an adjective means “more and more”: 天气越来越冷了, “it is getting colder and colder”. Because it describes a change, the sentence usually ends with the 了 of a new situation. It works with verbs of feeling too: 我越来越喜欢这儿了.
越 A 越 B ties two changes together: “the more A, the more B”. Each 越 stands directly before its own verb or adjective, and each subject stands before its own 越: 你越解释，我越糊涂, “the more you explain, the more confused I get”. With one subject the two halves run together: 雨越下越大, “it rained harder and harder”. 越来越 is in fact a frozen form of this pattern: “the more it comes, the more”.
Neither pattern allows 很, 非常 or 太 before the adjective: the pattern itself already says how the degree changes. And 越来越 stands after the subject, never in front of it the way “more and more” sometimes does in English.
Two set phrases are worth learning whole. “More and more people” is 越来越多的人, with 多 as the adjective and 的 before the noun. And “the sooner the better” is 越快越好 — the same frame takes any adjective: 越便宜越好, “the cheaper the better”.
The form
| more and more | 天气越来越热了。 |
| more and more + noun | 越来越多的人学中文。 |
| the more … the more (two subjects) | 你越解释，我越不明白。 |
| the more … the more (one subject) | 雨越下越大。 |
| the sooner the better | 越快越好。 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
越来越 stands after the subject and before the adjective or verb.
她的中文越来越好了。Her Chinese is getting better and better.
No 很 after 越来越: the phrase already says how the degree changes.
房租越来越贵了。Rents are getting more and more expensive.
In 越 A 越 B, each 越 stands directly before its verb or adjective.
这首歌我越听越喜欢。The more I listen to this song, the more I like it.
With two different subjects, each subject comes before its own 越.
天越冷，人越想待在家。The colder it gets, the more people want to stay at home.
“More and more” before a noun is 越来越多的.
越来越多的年轻人喜欢骑自行车。More and more young people like cycling.
A closer look
Less and less
English has “less and less”; Chinese has no word for “less” in this sense. It uses the opposite adjective — 越来越少, 越来越小 — or puts 不 after 越来越: 他越来越不爱说话了, “he talks less and less”.
The same verb often appears in both halves of 越 … 越 when the second half describes a feeling that grows as you do something: 越想越生气, “the more he thought about it, the angrier he got”; 越看越喜欢, “the more I look at it, the more I like it”.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the second half is a judgement such as “better” or “worse”
the sentence can be negated as a whole with 不是 in front.
东西不是越贵越好。Things are not necessarily better the more they cost.
不是 rejects the rule of thumb itself, not one of its two halves.
How to spot it
- 越来越
- 越…越…
- 越…越好
Example sentences
天越来越黑了，我们回家吧。It's getting darker and darker — let's go home.
我越来越喜欢这个城市了。I like this city more and more.
风越刮越大。The wind is blowing harder and harder.
这本小说我越看越想看。The more of this novel I read, the more I want to read.
房子离地铁站越近，房租越贵。The closer a flat is to the metro station, the higher the rent.
这件事你得早点儿告诉他，越早越好。You need to tell him about this soon — the sooner the better.
7 more example sentences
孩子越来越高了。The child is getting taller and taller.
雪越下越大。The snow is getting heavier and heavier.
他越想越生气。The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
我的工作越来越忙了。My work is getting busier and busier.
你越练习，说得越流利。The more you practise, the more fluently you speak.
他跑得越来越快。He is running faster and faster.
越来越多的外国人来这儿旅游。More and more foreigners come here on holiday.
Worth knowing (1)
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Yuè … yuè hǎo as a ready-made phrase
越 + adjective + 越好 says what you want: 越多越好, “the more the better”, 越便宜越好, “the cheaper the better”. It can stand on its own as a whole reply.
水果越新鲜越好。The fresher the fruit, the better.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
越来越 already says how the degree is changing, so the adjective after it stands bare. Adding 很 out of habit would be like saying “more and more very cold”.
Yuèláiyuè plus the bare adjective; in yuè … yuè, each yuè sits right before its own word.
Your turn
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