Re: The...the...

for another natlang example, japanese uses ...ba...hodo..., which i
will explain below:

taka-kereba taka-i hodo oishi-i
expensive-CONDITIONAL expensive-ADJ "hodo" tasty-ADJ
"the more expensive, the tastier."

(note, you can also use verbs:

ne-reba ne-ru hodo tanoshi-i
sleep-COND sleep-NONPAST "hodo" fun-ADJ
"the more you sleep, the more fun it is."

...to take an odd example.)

this has been puzzling me lately, as i wonder why it uses the first
quality twice.  i also don't know what "hodo" literally means, other
than "degree".  i suppose the literal sense is there, but it's a
little obscure to me.  ::goes back to minoring in japanese::

-kit

On Apr 19, 2006, at 5:16 PM, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> How do you express the concept "the...the..." as in "the more, the
> merrier" in your conlangs.  Senjecas does not have the definite
> article, so I'm looking for some suggestions.
>
> I know that Spanish uses "cuanto...tanto...."
>
> What exactly is the etymology of the German "je...desto..."?
>
> Thanks.
> Charlie