Breakdown of Cuanto más cebo pones en el anzuelo, más pican.
en
in / on / by (means of transport) / about (after pensar)
poner
to put / to set (the table) / to make (an excuse) / to give, to impose (a fine, a penalty)
más
more; else (anything else, nobody else)
cuanto
the (in proportional comparisons)
Questions & Answers about Cuanto más cebo pones en el anzuelo, más pican.
Does cuanto change its ending depending on the words around it in this sentence?
Yes! When cuanto más is followed by a noun like cebo (bait), the word cuanto must match that noun's gender and number. Since cebo is a masculine singular noun, we use cuanto. If the noun were feminine and plural, like moscas (flies), it would change to cuantas más moscas.
Why is there no word for 'the' before más to translate 'the more... the more...'?
English uses 'the more [X], the more [Y]' to show proportion, but Spanish doesn't use a definite article (like el or la) here. Instead, Spanish uses the set formula cuanto más... más... (which translates more literally to 'how much more... more...'). Adding a word for 'the' would be a grammatical mistake in Spanish.
Does the verb picar always mean 'to bite'?
Not always! The verb picar is very versatile. While it means 'to bite' when referring to fish taking bait off a hook (anzuelo) or insects stinging, it can also mean 'to chop' (like food), 'to itch', or 'to snack'.
Why does the subject change in the second half of the sentence without explicitly saying who is doing the action?