Breakdown of Mitä enemmän luet kirjallisuutta, sitä palkitsevampaa se on.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
mikä
what
lukea
to read
Questions & Answers about Mitä enemmän luet kirjallisuutta, sitä palkitsevampaa se on.
How does the "the more... the more..." structure work in this sentence?
It uses the pattern mitä + comparative word, sitä + comparative word. Here, mitä enemmän means "the more" and sitä palkitsevampaa means "the more rewarding". The words mitä and sitä are actually the partitive forms of the pronouns mikä (what) and se (it).
Why is palkitsevampaa in the partitive case?
It is the comparative form of palkitseva (rewarding). It is in the partitive case (palkitsevampaa) because it describes the pronoun se (it). In this context, se refers to the abstract concept of reading literature. When describing abstract concepts or uncountable things, the adjective must be partitive.
The word palkitsevampaa looks quite long. How is it formed?
It is built in several steps! It starts with the verb palkita (to reward). This is turned into the adjective palkitseva (rewarding). Next, it is made comparative to mean "more rewarding" (palkitsevampi). Finally, we apply the partitive case ending to get palkitsevampaa.
Just a refresher: why is kirjallisuutta in the partitive case here?
The verb lukea (to read) takes a partitive object when the action is ongoing or when the object is an uncountable mass noun. Since "literature" is being talked about as a general, uncountable concept rather than one specific finished book, it takes the partitive case.