Learn Croatian: Što ima više kiše, to je urod obilniji. - The more rain there is, the more abundant the yield is.

Što ima više kiše, to je urod obilniji.

The more rain there is, the more abundant the yield is.

Breakdown of Što ima više kiše, to je urod obilniji.

Questions & Answers about Što ima više kiše, to je urod obilniji.

Why do we use što and to instead of just repeating the word for "more"?

In English, we say "The more..., the more...". In Croatian, this structure is built using što and to combined with comparative words. You can think of it literally as "What there is more rain, that the yield is more abundant."

Why is the verb ima used to mean "there is" here?

The verb imati (to have) is frequently used impersonally in Croatian to mean "there is" or "there are". So, ima više kiše literally translates to "it has more rain," but smoothly translates to "there is more rain."

Why is the word for rain kiše instead of kiša?

Because it comes after the quantity word više (more). In Croatian, words expressing quantity (like malo, puno, or više) must be followed by the genitive case. Since kiša is a feminine noun, its genitive singular ending is -e.

Why does je come right after to and before the subject urod?