～ば～ほど

About

The 〜ば〜ほど pattern is versatile and widely used to indicate a proportional relationship between two actions or states. Often this is translated as "The more X, the more Y".

For a typical 〜ば〜ほど sentence, the same word is repeated twice: once in its conditional form, and once in its dictionary form.

For な-adjectives and nouns, であれば or なら (for な-adjectives) can be used to form the conditional.

E.g. 仕事しごとは、大変たいへんであれば大変たいへんであるほどやる気きが出でる。 "When it comes to work, the harder it is, the more motivated I get."

E.g. 車くるまは丈夫じょうぶなら丈夫じょうぶなほど安心あんしんだ。 "The more sturdy (my) car is, the greater (my) peace of mind."

Other possible patterns are:

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  「(Noun/な-adjective)であればあるほど......」

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  「(な-adjective)であれば(な-adjective)なほど......」

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  「(な-adjective)なら(ば)(な-adjective)なほど......」

For verbs and い-adjectives, it's as simple as forming the regular conditional form.

E.g. 考かんがえれば考かんがえるほどわからなくなる。 "The more (I) think about (it), the less I understand (it)."

E.g. ピザは大おおきければ大おおきいほどいい。 "When it comes to pizza, the bigger, the better."

Sometimes, the initial 〜ば part of a 「〜ば〜ほど」 construct is omitted. This tends to be the case when it is inferrable through context.

E.g. 駅えきに近ちかいほど、家賃やちんは高たかくなります。 "The closer to the station you get, the higher the rent gets."

「〜ば〜だけ」 is sometimes used in place of 「〜ば〜ほど」. Unlike, ほど, だけ may attach to past tense casual verbs.

E.g. その曲きょくを聞きけば聞きいただけ、あの頃ころの思おもい出でが蘇よみがえってくる。 "The more I listen to that song, the more memories of that time well up."

Summary

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  ～ば～ほど is used to express "The more X, the more Y"

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  In a typical 〜ば〜ほど sentence, the same word is repeated twice: once in its conditional form, and once in its dictionary form

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  Nouns can be made conditional using であれば

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  な-adjectives can be made conditional using であれば or なら(ば)

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  い-adjectives and verbs simply use their ば (conditional) form

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  Occasionally, the initial ば may be omitted, if it can be inferred from context

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  ～ば～だけ can be used in place of 〜ば〜ほど, and is unique in that だけ can attach to past casual verbs