Question 1

Why isn't there a literal translation for "the" in "the more" and "the bigger"?

Accepted Answer

In English we use "the" in proportional comparisons ("the more X, the more Y"). Spanish does not use definite articles for this. Instead, you use mientras más for the first half, and simply más for the second. So, mientras más humedad... más grande gives you "the more humidity... the bigger."

Question 2

If I wanted to use "cuanto más" instead of "mientras más" for this sentence, how would it change?

Accepted Answer

It changes slightly because cuanto has to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Since humedad is a feminine noun, you would have to say cuanta más humedad tiene la tierra. The word mientras never changes form, making mientras más a bit easier to use!

Question 3

Why is the word order tiene la tierra instead of la tierra tiene?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, it is very common and sounds much more natural to put the verb before the subject in this kind of dependent clause. Mientras más humedad tiene la tierra flows better than Mientras más humedad la tierra tiene, though a native speaker would understand both.

Question 4

Why does this sentence use the indicative verb tiene instead of the subjunctive tenga?

Accepted Answer

We use the indicative (tiene) here because the sentence states a general, established fact: whenever the land has more humidity, the harvest is bigger. If you were talking about a hypothetical or future harvest that hasn't happened yet (like "The more humidity the land has this year, the bigger the harvest will be"), you would use the subjunctive: Mientras más humedad tenga...

Mientras más humedad tiene la tierra, más grande es la cosecha.

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