Proportional Comparisons: "Mitä..., sitä..."
In English, we describe proportional changes using the "the..., the..." structure, such as "the more, the better." In Finnish, this is expressed using the construction mitä..., sitä... (literally: "what..., that...").
Place mitä at the beginning of the first clause and sitä at the beginning of the second clause. Both words must be immediately followed by a comparative adjective or adverb.
| The longer the lecture is, the more demanding it is. | Mitä pidempi luento on, sitä vaativampi se on. |
Just like in English, you can drop the verbs entirely for snappy, general statements.
| The more notes, the better. | Mitä enemmän muistiinpanoja, sitä parempi. |
Actions and Adverbs
You can use comparative adverbs like enemmän (more) or aikaisemmin (earlier) to describe how the intensity or timing of an action affects the outcome.
| The more you procrastinate, the more the exam makes you nervous. | Mitä enemmän viivyttelet, sitä enemmän tentti jännittää sinua. |
| The earlier you start, the better the performance is. | Mitä aikaisemmin aloitat, sitä parempi suoritus on. |
Study Vocabulary in Practice
Here is how new academic vocabulary—like lähde (source) and kirjallisuus (literature)—looks in the proportional structure and in standard sentences.
| The more reliable the source is, the better. | Mitä luotettavampi lähde on, sitä parempi. |
| The more you read literature, the more rewarding it is. | Mitä enemmän luet kirjallisuutta, sitä palkitsevampaa se on. |
| I read the introduction because of the demanding exam. | Luen johdannon vaativan tentin takia. |