Equivalent Quantities: столько же ... сколько и
When you want to say "as much as" or "as many as", Russian uses the correlative pair столько ... сколько. To emphasize exact parity or fairness, we usually add the particles же and и, creating the phrase столько же ... сколько и.
Because столько is a quantity word (like "a lot" or "a little"), the noun that follows it must be in the Genitive case.
| We have as many duties as they do. | У нас столько же обязанностей, сколько и у них. |
| She invested as much money in the project as her partner. | Она вложила в проект столько же денег, сколько и её партнёр. |
Fairness and Deserving
When discussing fairness in relationships, business, or matching contributions, you will often need words like справедливый (fair, just) and the verb pair заслуживать / заслужить (to deserve). Notice how the "as much as" structure works perfectly to express getting what you earned.
| It is a fair contract, you deserve as much profit as the investor. | Это справедливый договор, вы заслуживаете столько же прибыли, сколько и инвестор. |
| I invested as many years as you did to deserve this position. | Я вложил столько же лет, сколько и ты, чтобы заслужить эту должность. |
Contributions and Payoffs
Sharing the load requires talking about what you put in and what you get out. A contribution or fee is a взнос, while the payoff or return on investment is the отдача. If you are splitting things exactly down the middle, use the adverb поровну (equally).
| It is a fair plan: we divide the contributions equally. | Это справедливый план: мы делим взносы поровну. |
| He puts in as much effort for hours as we do, but where is the payoff? | Он часами вкладывает столько же сил, сколько и мы, но где отдача? |