Jo længere jeg venter, jo sværere bliver det at finde den rigtige størrelse i butikken.

It means the ... the ..., as in the English pattern:

The longer I wait, the harder it becomes ...

So:

• Jo længere jeg venter = The longer I wait
• jo sværere bliver det ... = the harder it becomes ...

This is a very common Danish structure for comparisons involving change.

Because længere is the comparative form of lang / længe.

Here, the idea is longer, not just long. In English, we also use the comparative:

• The long I wait ❌
• The longer I wait ✅

In Danish:

• længe relates to duration: for a long time
• længere = longer

So Jo længere jeg venter literally means The longer I wait.

For the same reason: it is a comparative.

• svær = difficult
• sværere = more difficult / harder

Because the sentence compares one situation with another, Danish uses the comparative:

jo sværere = the harder

This matches English very closely.

Because Danish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

In the clause:

jo sværere bliver det at finde ...

the first element is jo sværere, so the verb bliver comes next, and the subject det comes after that.

So the order is:

1. jo sværere
2. bliver
3. det

This may feel unusual to an English speaker, but it is normal Danish word order.

Compare:

• Det bliver sværere = It becomes harder
• Jo sværere bliver det = The harder it becomes

When jo sværere is moved to the front, the verb must come before the subject.

Here det is a kind of formal subject or dummy subject, similar to English it in sentences like:

It is hard to find the right size.

Danish often uses det the same way:

• Det er svært at finde den rigtige størrelse.
• Det bliver sværere at finde den rigtige størrelse.

So det does not refer to a specific object. It is just the grammatical subject required by the sentence.

Because at finde is an infinitive phrase meaning to find.

The structure is:

• det bliver sværere
• at finde den rigtige størrelse i butikken

So the sentence means:

It becomes harder to find the right size in the shop.

This is very similar to English:

• It is hard to find ...
• It becomes harder to find ...

In Danish, at + infinitive is the normal way to say to + verb.

Because Danish often uses the double definiteness pattern with adjectives.

When a noun is definite and has an adjective, Danish usually uses:

• den/det/de
  • adjective + noun in definite form

So:

• størrelse = size
• den rigtige størrelse = the right size

You cannot normally say rigtige størrelsen in this structure, and rigtig størrelse would mean a right/correct size, not the right size in the same definite sense.

This is a very important Danish pattern:

• den store bil = the big car
• det gamle hus = the old house
• de nye sko = the new shoes

Because i means in, and that is the natural preposition here for being inside or within the shop as a place.

• i butikken = in the shop / in the store

Danish often uses i where English might sometimes say at the store. So even if English does not always use in, Danish commonly does here.

på is used with some places in Danish, but butik normally takes i in this kind of sentence.

Both are in the present tense:

• venter = wait / am waiting
• bliver = become / becomes

Even though English might sometimes express this idea more flexibly, Danish commonly uses the present tense in general statements like this:

Jo længere jeg venter, jo sværere bliver det ...

This is a general truth or tendency: if I keep waiting, the situation gets harder.

Because Danish usually forms many comparatives by adding an ending, rather than using a separate word like more.

So:

• svær = difficult
• sværere = more difficult

Likewise:

• lang / længe → længere
• stor → større
• nem → nemmere

So sværere already includes the idea of more difficult.

Yes, but it would not mean exactly the same thing.

The jo ... jo ... structure specifically expresses a relationship like:

the more X happens, the more Y happens

For example:

• Jo længere jeg venter, jo sværere bliver det.

If you used mere og mere, that would mean something like more and more, which focuses on gradual increase:

• Det bliver mere og mere svært ... = It becomes more and more difficult ...

That is similar, but not identical. The original sentence emphasizes the direct correlation between waiting longer and it becoming harder.

Here jo is mainly a grammatical marker in the comparison pattern jo ... jo .... It is usually not the main word carrying meaning in the sentence.

The important content words are things like:

• længere
• venter
• sværere
• finde
• den rigtige størrelse

So when speaking, the stress usually falls more naturally on those words than on jo.

Not perfectly. A very literal version would look something like:

The longer I wait, the harder becomes it to find the right size in the shop.

That is not natural English because English word order is different.

A natural English translation is:

The longer I wait, the harder it becomes to find the right size in the store.

So although the overall pattern matches English quite well, you should not copy the Danish word order directly.