Breakdown of Naarmate je meer naar vinyl luistert, klinkt de plaat des te mooier.
naar
to
luisteren
to listen
mooi
beautiful
je
you (unstressed form of jij)
Questions & Answers about Naarmate je meer naar vinyl luistert, klinkt de plaat des te mooier.
Why do we use des te here instead of hoe for 'the more'?
While you can say hoe meer..., hoe mooier... (the more..., the more...), this sentence starts with the conjunction naarmate (as / in proportion as). When you want to express 'all the more' in the second half of a sentence without using hoe in the first half, des te is the perfect choice. It emphasizes the comparative mooier.
Could I use des te in the first clause instead of naarmate?
No, des te cannot act as a conjunction to introduce a dependent clause. It is strictly an adverbial phrase used to emphasize a comparative, meaning 'all the more'. You will often see it in the second half of a sentence to show the result of a progression, paired with words like naarmate or hoe.
Why does the main clause start with the verb klinkt instead of the subject de plaat?
The sentence begins with a subordinate clause (Naarmate je meer naar vinyl luistert). In Dutch, when a subordinate clause occupies the first position of the entire sentence, it triggers inversion in the main clause. Therefore, the verb (klinkt) must come right after the comma, before the subject (de plaat).
Why does meer come before naar vinyl instead of right after Naarmate?