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Più pesticidi usiamo, più insetti spariscono.

Più pesticidi usiamo, più insetti spariscono.
The more pesticides we use, the more insects disappear.
From Lesson 346:The more... the more... (più... più...)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Più pesticidi usiamo, più insetti spariscono.

Why isn't there a definite article before più, since the English translation says 'The more'?
In Italian, you do not use the definite article for correlative clauses like this. The structure is simply più ... più ... or meno ... meno .... If you added an article and said il più, it would mean 'the most' (the superlative), which is a different grammar structure.
Does più ever change its ending to agree with plural nouns like pesticidi or insetti?
No, più is invariable, meaning its form never changes. Even when it acts as a quantifier modifying plural or feminine nouns, it always stays exactly as più.
Since pesticidi ends in -i, is its singular form pesticido?
The singular is actually pesticida. Nouns ending in -cida (meaning 'killer' or 'destroyer') are usually masculine despite the -a ending. Because they are masculine, they take the standard masculine plural ending -i, giving us pesticidi.
Why is the verb spariscono conjugated with -isc-?
Sparire (to disappear) is a third-conjugation verb that requires the -isc- insert in the present tense. This pattern applies to all singular forms and the third-person plural, which is why we say loro spariscono instead of just dropping the ending and saying 'sparono'.

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