Difference between revisions of "Expressing "more and more" with "yuelaiyue""

Revision as of 08:26, 17 November 2011

"越 ... 越..." (yuè... yuè...) is used frequently in Chinese to express that some quality or state is increasing with time, or in tune with another factor. There are two forms of this pattern, the "simple" one (using 来), and the more complex one (which uses two different adjectives/verbs).

Simple: 越来越 + Adjective

This structure expresses that something is becoming more and more adjective over time, with the latter adjective changing with the verb. The most common structure is:

Subject + 越来 + 越 + Adjective

Here are some examples:

汽油越来越贵。
美国的音乐越来越流行。
她的数学成绩越来越好。

Complex: 越 + Adjective/Verb + 越 + Adjective/Verb

This structure can be expanded further by replacing 来 with another verb. This expresses that one change causes another change. (The examples make it clear how this works.)

Subject + 越 + Verb Phrase + 越 + Adjective

Here are some examples of this structure:

他越喝可乐越胖。
她越说越生气。
啊，我越忙越不耐烦。

Sources and further reading

Books

Common Chinese Patterns 330 (pp. 295)
Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (pp. 238-239)

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 * [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7802006473/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=7802006473 Common Chinese Patterns 330] (pp. 295)
 * [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415700108?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0415700108 Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide] (pp. 238-239)
+[[Category:B1 grammar points]]
+[[Category:Sentence Patterns]]