Mientras más lo decoloras, más quebradizo queda.
The more you bleach it, the more brittle it ends up.
Breakdown of Mientras más lo decoloras, más quebradizo queda.
lo
it / him (direct object)
más
more
mientras
while / the more/less (in proportional comparisons) / as long as
quedar
to turn out / end up
decolorar
to bleach
quebradizo
brittle
Questions & Answers about Mientras más lo decoloras, más quebradizo queda.
Can I use cuanto más instead of mientras más in this sentence?
Yes! In Latin America, mientras más is very common in everyday speech, but cuanto más is completely interchangeable with it. Both mean the more. You will hear both Mientras más lo decoloras and Cuanto más lo decoloras used to mean the exact same thing.
Why is decoloras in the present indicative and not the subjunctive?
We use the indicative here because the sentence is stating a general fact or a known rule (every time you bleach hair, it gets brittle). If you were talking about a specific future event that hasn't happened yet (like the more you bleach it tomorrow), you would use the subjunctive: Mientras más lo decolores...
Why use queda instead of es or se vuelve?
Quedar is often used as a verb of change to talk about the final result or state of something after an action has been performed on it. While se vuelve (becomes) could work, queda specifically highlights the result (ends up or is left) of the bleaching process. Using es wouldn't work well because it describes a permanent characteristic, not a result of a change.
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