Breakdown of Jo mere du arbejder, des højere er lønnen.
være
to be
du
you
arbejde
to work
mere
more / anymore (with a negative)
Questions & Answers about Jo mere du arbejder, des højere er lønnen.
Why does the sentence use jo at the beginning but des in the middle?
In Danish, the "the... the..." structure is built using jo ..., jo ... or jo ..., des .... They mean exactly the same thing. However, you can only use des for the second part (the result). You cannot start the sentence with des.
Why is the word order straight in the first part (du arbejder) but inverted in the second part (er lønnen)?
The first part of a jo ..., jo/des ... sentence is always a subordinate clause (dependent clause), so it keeps the standard subject-verb order (du arbejder). The second part is the main clause. Because the entire first clause takes up the first position in the sentence, the V2 (verb-second) rule forces the verb to come before the subject in the main clause, giving us er lønnen.
Could I say flere instead of mere in this sentence?
No, because you are talking about the abstract amount of an action (working). Mere translates to "more" for actions and uncountable nouns. Flere is only used for countable things, like if you wanted to say "more hours" (flere timer).
What is the base form of højere?
The base form is the adjective høj (high). Højere is the comparative form (higher). In jo ..., jo/des ... sentences, you must always use the comparative form of the adjective or adverb.