Comparative clauses with je….desto

In this lesson you learn how to build comparative clauses with je … desto / umso to link two developments, for example: Je mehr du übst, desto besser sprichst du Deutsch.

1Meaning of je … desto / umso

With je … desto / umso you say: when one thing increases or decreases, another thing changes at the same time.

• Je mehr du lernst, desto besser verstehst du Deutsch.
  “The more you study, the better you understand German.”
• Je weniger er schläft, desto müder ist er.
  “The less he sleeps, the more tired he is.”

Here desto and umso have the same meaning.

2Basic structure

A sentence with je … desto / umso has two parts:

• a subordinate clause with je (verb at the end)
• a main clause with desto / umso (verb in position 2)

Examples:

• Je schneller du sprichst, desto mehr Fehler machst du.
  “The faster you speak, the more mistakes you make.”
• Je früher wir gehen, umso früher kommen wir an.
  “The earlier we leave, the earlier we arrive.”

3Typical patterns

a) With adjectives in the comparative

• Je älter ich werde, desto ruhiger werde ich.
  “The older I get, the calmer I become.”
• Je größer die Stadt ist, desto lauter ist es.
  “The bigger the city is, the noisier it is.”

b) With adverbs in the comparative

• Je schneller du läufst, desto früher bist du da.
  “The faster you run, the earlier you are there.”
• Je länger wir warten, desto später essen wir.
  “The longer we wait, the later we eat.”

c) With „mehr / weniger“

• Je mehr du übst, desto sicherer wirst du.
  “The more you practise, the more confident you become.”
• Je weniger er arbeitet, desto unzufriedener ist sein Chef.
  “The less he works, the more dissatisfied his boss is.”

4Word order in the main clause

After desto / umso + comparative, the conjugated verb comes immediately:

• Je länger der Winter dauert, desto schlechter fühle ich mich.
  “The longer the winter lasts, the worse I feel.”

Pattern:

• desto/umso + comparative + verb + subject + …

5Alternatives without je … desto

You can express a similar idea without this structure.

a) With a wenn-clause (condition)

• Je schneller du fährst, desto gefährlicher ist es.
  “The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is.”
• Wenn du schneller fährst, ist es gefährlicher.
  “If you drive faster, it is more dangerous.”

b) With a weil-clause (reason)

• Je mehr du liest, desto besser schreibst du.
  “The more you read, the better you write.”
• Weil du mehr liest, schreibst du besser.
  “Because you read more, you write better.”

These alternatives have a similar meaning, but je … desto / umso is more compact and clearly shows the comparison.

6Common mistakes to avoid

• In the je-part the verb is at the end:
  Je mehr du lernst, … (not: Je mehr du lernst, desto besser du wirst.)
• In the desto-part the verb is in position 2, directly after desto / umso + comparative:
  desto besser wirst du (not: desto besser du wirst).

Practise with your own sentences: Je …, desto … – and your German comparisons will become much more natural.