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Lesson 43B2

plus...plus / moins...moins (The More..., the More...)

எவ்வளவு...அவ்வளவு

French pairs plus or moins twice, once per clause, to build 'the more..., the more...' — and it does so without disturbing ordinary word order at all.

Grammar Comparison

இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு

Plus on..., plus on...: the more..., the more...

French

Plus on mange, plus on grossit. (The more one eats, the more one gets fat)

Tamil

எவ்வளவு சாப்பிடுகிறோமோ, அவ்வளவு குண்டாகிறோம்.

French repeats plus or moins at the start of each clause to build the correlative 'the more...the more' pattern, and both halves keep completely ordinary subject-verb-object order — no verb gets pushed anywhere. That makes this construction a close structural match for Tamil's எவ்வளவு...அவ்வளவு: line up the two halves in the same order in both languages and the sentence is done.

Mixing plus and moins

French

Plus on est occupé, moins on a de temps. (The busier one is, the less time one has)

Tamil

எவ்வளவு பிஸியாக இருக்கிறோமோ, அவ்வளவு குறைவாக நேரம் கிடைக்கிறது.

The two halves don't have to match direction — freely combine plus...moins or moins...plus depending on how each half changes, just as Tamil freely swaps அதிகமாக/குறைவாக around the same எவ்வளவு...அவ்வளவு frame. Note how common on ('one/people in general', a casual stand-in for nous) is inside this construction — it appears in almost every example.

Vocabulary

சொற்கள்

FrenchPronunciationTamilEnglish
plus...plusploo plooஎவ்வளவு...அவ்வளவுevvaḷavu...avvaḷavuthe more...the more
moins...moinsmwan mwanஎவ்வளவு குறைவோ...அவ்வளவு குறைவுevvaḷavu kuṟaivō...avvaḷavu kuṟaivuthe less...the less
plus...moinsploo mwanஎவ்வளவு அதிகமோ...அவ்வளவு குறைவுevvaḷavu adhigamō...avvaḷavu kuṟaivuthe more...the less
Plus il travaille, plus il réussit.ploo eel trah-VYE, ploo eel ray-oo-SEEஅவன் எவ்வளவு உழைக்கிறானோ, அவ்வளவு வெற்றி பெறுகிறான்.avan evvaḷavu uḻaikkiṟāṉō, avvaḷavu veṟṟi peṟugiṟāṉ.The more he works, the more he succeeds.
Moins tu dors, plus tu es fatigué.mwan too dor, ploo too eh fah-tee-GAYநீ எவ்வளவு குறைவாகத் தூங்குகிறாயோ, அவ்வளவு அதிகமாக சோர்வாக இருப்பாய்.nī evvaḷavu kuṟaivāgath thūngukiṟāyō, avvaḷavu adhigamāga sōrvāga iruppāy.The less you sleep, the more tired you are.