Breakdown of Što je tlo vlažnije, to biljka brže raste.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
brz
fast
biljka
plant
rasti
to rise / to grow
što
the (correlative: the more...)
tlo
soil
vlažan
moist
to
the (correlative: ...the more)
Questions & Answers about Što je tlo vlažnije, to biljka brže raste.
How does the "The moister..., the faster..." structure work in this sentence?
Croatian uses the paired words što and to to express "the [more]..., the [more]...". You start the first clause with što followed by a comparative, and start the second clause with to also followed by a comparative. Together, što... to... creates a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
Why is the verb je placed right after što instead of after the subject tlo?
The word je is a clitic (a "weak" word without its own stress), and Croatian grammar requires it to sit in the second position of its clause. Here, što takes the first position, so je must immediately follow it, which pushes the subject tlo into the third position.
Both vlažnije and brže end in -e. Are they both adverbs?
No, they are playing different roles! Brže (faster) is indeed an adverb describing the verb raste (grows). However, vlažnije (moister) is an adjective describing the noun tlo (soil). Because tlo is a neuter noun, its matching comparative adjective takes the neuter nominative ending -e, which just happens to look identical to an adverb.
Can I change the word order in the second clause to keep the comparative words closer together?
Yes! You can say to brže biljka raste. Both word orders are perfectly natural. Putting the comparative brže right after to emphasizes the speed, while the sentence's current word order (to biljka brže raste) places a bit more focus on the subject (the plant).
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