Hoe meer examens ik heb, hoe harder ik moet werken. |
The more exams I have, the harder I have to work. |
The above sentence expresses a proportional relation between the number of exams the speaker has and the amount of studying (s)he has to do.
In this construction the first clause is subordinate to the second. Both clauses must have a comparative after the word hoe and in both clauses the verbs are in penultimate position. (Note that the final position may remain empty as in the examples above).
In the hoe ... hoe... construction the second clause can also begin with the phrase des te... without the meaning being changed. In the hoe... des te... construction, however, some variation is possible in the word order. The finite verb in the second clause can either come in penultimate position (as in the hoe...hoe... construction) or immediately after the comparative:
Hoe meer examens ik heb, des te harder ik moet werken. |
The more exams I have, the harder I have to work. |
| Hoe meer examens ik heb, des te harder moet ik werken. |
Hoe interessanter je iets vindt, des te liever je er over leest. |
The more interesting you find something, the more you like to read about it. |
| Hoe interessanter je iets vindt, des te liever lees je er over. |