Breakdown of Je schneller die Jahre vergehen, umso älter sehen wir aus.
schnell
fast, quickly
wir
we
alt
old
das Jahr
the year
aussehen
to look (appear)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
je
the (in proportional comparisons)
umso
the (alternative second part)
vergehen
to pass (time)
Questions & Answers about Je schneller die Jahre vergehen, umso älter sehen wir aus.
Why are the verbs in different places in the two halves of the sentence?
The first half starting with je is a subordinate clause, which kicks the conjugated verb vergehen to the very end. The second half with umso acts as a main clause. The phrase umso älter occupies the first position, so the verb sehen stays in its normal second position.
Is there a difference between using umso and desto here?
No difference at all! You can use umso and desto interchangeably. Writing je schneller die Jahre vergehen, desto älter sehen wir aus would be perfectly correct and means the exact same thing.
Why is aus sitting by itself at the very end of the sentence?
That is the prefix of the separable verb aussehen, which means to look or to appear. In a German main clause, the core verb sehen takes the second position, and the separable prefix aus gets sent to the very end.
In English, we say 'the older we look' with the subject before the verb. Could we say umso älter wir sehen aus?
No, that would break the strict second-position rule for verbs in German main clauses. Because the comparative phrase umso älter counts as the entire first position block, the verb sehen must come next. This forces the subject wir to slide into the third position.
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