To express proportional relationships—like how income, taxes, and inflation affect each other—we use the correlative comparative. In English, this is the "the more..., the more..." structure.
The Structure of "jo ..., jo/des ..."
In Danish, we build this relationship using the words jo and des combined with comparative adjectives or adverbs (such as mere, mindre, højere, or større).
The structure is split into two halves:
1. The Condition (First Half) Starts with jo + a comparative. The word order here is Subject + Verb.
2. The Result (Second Half) Starts with either jo or des + a comparative. Both mean the exact same thing here. Because the entire first half of the sentence acts as the first position, the second half must use inversion (Verb + Subject) to satisfy the V2 rule.
Let's look at them put together:
| The more you work, the higher the salary is. | Jo mere du arbejder, des højere er lønnen. |
You can use des in the second half, but it is equally common to use jo in both halves (jo ..., jo ...):
| The more the interest rate rises, the more expensive the house becomes. | Jo mere renten stiger, jo dyrere bliver huset. |
| The more the salary rises, the larger consumption becomes. | Jo mere lønnen stiger, jo større bliver forbruget. |
Notice how the verb and subject swap places in the second half of every sentence. This rule applies no matter which economic factors you are comparing!
| The larger the deduction is, the less you pay. | Jo større fradraget er, des mindre betaler du. |
| The higher the tax on petrol is, the less we drive. | Jo højere afgiften på benzinen er, des mindre kører vi. |
