Expressing "more and more" with "yuelaiyue"

"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

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

This expresses that the subject is becoming more and more adjective as time goes on.

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 说话 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)