Growing and Extreme Comparisons: 越来越, 越...越, 比...多了

The previous article covered the core comparison patterns. These three build on that foundation and let you say things are changing over time, that two things are happening together, or that the gap between two things is large.

越来越: getting more and more

越来越 (yuè lái yuè) describes something that is increasing or changing over time. It goes right before the adjective or verb.

越来越 + Adjective/Verb

• 天气越来越冷了。(Tiānqì yuè lái yuè lěng le.) -- The weather is getting colder and colder.
• 我的汉语越来越好了。(Wǒ de Hànyǔ yuè lái yuè hǎo le.) -- My Chinese is getting better and better.
• 她越来越喜欢北京了。(Tā yuè lái yuè xǐhuān Běijīng le.) -- She likes Beijing more and more.

The 了 at the end is common but not required. It reinforces the sense that a change is happening or has happened.

越来越 works with negative adjectives too, so the thing getting "more and more" can be bad:

• 他越来越忙了。(Tā yuè lái yuè máng le.) -- He's getting busier and busier.
• 价格越来越贵了。(Jiàgé yuè lái yuè guì le.) -- Prices are getting more and more expensive.

越...越: the more..., the more...

越...越 (yuè...yuè) links two things that change together. As one goes up, so does the other. The two 越 each introduce a clause.

越 + [Condition] + 越 + [Result]

• 越吃越饿。(Yuè chī yuè è.) -- The more I eat, the hungrier I get.
• 越学越有意思。(Yuè xué yuè yǒu yìsi.) -- The more you study, the more interesting it gets.
• 她越说越快。(Tā yuè shuō yuè kuài.) -- The more she talked, the faster she got.
• 天越来越黑，我越来越担心。(Tiān yuè lái yuè hēi, wǒ yuè lái yuè dānxīn.) -- The darker it got, the more worried I became.

The subject can appear before the first 越, or you can leave it out if it's clear from context. Both clauses usually share the same subject, but they don't have to:

• 你越努力，结果越好。(Nǐ yuè nǔlì, jiéguǒ yuè hǎo.) -- The harder you work, the better the results.

This pattern is very natural in spoken Chinese and shows up constantly. Once you hear it a few times, it sticks.

比...多了: a whole lot more

This one extends the 比 pattern from the last article. Adding 多了 (duō le) after the adjective signals that the difference is large. It's roughly equivalent to "way more" or "a lot more" in English.

A + 比 + B + Adjective + 多了

• 今天比昨天暖和多了。(Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān nuǎnhuo duō le.) -- Today is a lot warmer than yesterday.
• 这家餐厅比那家好吃多了。(Zhè jiā cāntīng bǐ nà jiā hǎochī duō le.) -- This restaurant is way better than that one.
• 坐高铁比坐公共汽车快多了。(Zuò gāotiě bǐ zuò gōnggòng qìchē kuài duō le.) -- Taking the high-speed rail is much faster than taking the bus.

You can also swap 多了 for 得多 (de duō), which means the same thing and is equally common:

• 今天比昨天暖和得多。(Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān nuǎnhuo de duō.) -- Today is much warmer than yesterday.

Both 多了 and 得多 work the same way, so use whichever feels more natural after you have heard both a few times.

Putting them together

These three patterns are independent, but they combine easily in natural speech:

• 我的汉语越来越好，比去年好多了。(Wǒ de Hànyǔ yuè lái yuè hǎo, bǐ qùnián hǎo duō le.) -- My Chinese keeps improving; it's much better than last year.

Getting comfortable with these three gives you a much more expressive range for describing change, cause and effect, and degree. They are all high-frequency patterns that come up well before the intermediate level, so it pays to learn them early.