How to express “the more…, the more…” in Mandarin Chinese?

In Mandarin Chinese, 越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè...) and 越来越...了 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le) are used to express ”the more…, the more…” There are various ways to make compartisons in Mandarin Chinese but in this post we will discuss these different, but very useful, expressions to do so. Let’s look at some examples:

In the examples above, notice that the first two sentences use the expression 越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè…, meaning “the more… the more…”), and the last two sentences use the expression 越来越...了 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le, meaning “more and more”). Keep reading and, by the end of this post, you will know how to use these two expressions like a pro!

越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè...) is the one phrase you will need to express the English equivalent of “the more…, the more….” Between the two 越 (transcribed yuè), we usually insert a verb or an adjective. This pattern will either carry one subject, such as in the first sentence above — 他越跑越快 (transcribed ā yuè pǎo yuè kuài, meaning “The more he runs, the faster he gets”) —, or carry different subjects, like in the second sentence — 他越问，我越生气 (transcribed tā yuè wèn, wǒ yuè shēngqì, meaning “The more he asks, the angrier I get”). Are you ready to find out more? Let’s keep reading!

Have you been wondering what happens if you want to express the meaning of “the more…, the less…”? We’ve got you covered! Just add 不 (transcribed bù) or 没 (transcribed méi) to the second part of 越 (transcribed yuè), and you have it!

You can also use 越来越....了 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le, meaning “more and more”), a simpler form of 越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè...). Instead of inserting verbs and/or adjectives in 越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè...), we substitute it with 越来越....了 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le, meaning “more and more”). This pattern expresses either an action, or something that increases or decreases in degree. For example, 她越来越喜欢这个城市了 (transcribed Tā yuèláiyuè xǐhuan zhège chéngshì le, meaning “She likes the city more and more”). In this sentence, 越来越 indicates a comparison between now and before, namely she now likes the city more than before. As you can see here, after the first 越 (transcribed yuè), the character 来 (transcribed to come, meaning “there is more increase/decrease to come”) is placed there for us. We cannot change it or leave it out. All we need to do is to insert verbs or adjectives after the second 越 (transcribed yuè) to mean "more and more." Please notice that the aspectual particle 了 (transcribed le) is added at the end of the sentence pattern, to indicate the change of state. Got it? Great! Let’s move on!

Adding 不/没 (transcribed bù/méi) after 越来越 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le) will express the meaning of “less and less” in Mandarin Chinese. This negative form usually applies to the following sentence pattern:

In this post, we discussed two methods to express comparison in Mandarin Chinese: 越...越... (transcribed yuè...yuè...) and the simpler form, 越来越....了 (transcribed yuè lái yuè...le). In both patterns, we can insert verbs and adjectives after 越 (transcribed yuè) to indicate an increase of an action or a thing in degrees.

Now, are you ready for some exercises? The more exercises you do, the easier it will be! 你会发现，练习题越做越容易 (transcribed Nǐ huì fāxiàn, liànxí tí yuè zuò yuè róngyi)!