The more ... the more

This pattern expresses a proportional relationship, equivalent to "the more... the more..." in English. It shows that as the action or state in the first clause increases, the result in the second clause also increases proportionally.

Formation

This pattern attaches directly to verb and adjective stems.

Stems ending in a vowel or ㄹ: Add -ㄹ수록.

보다 (to see) → 볼수록 (the more one sees)

알다 (to know) → 알수록 (the more one knows)

빠르다 (to be fast) → 빠를수록 (the faster)

Stems ending in a consonant (except ㄹ): Add -을수록.

먹다 (to eat) → 먹을수록 (the more one eats)

씹다 (to chew) → 씹을수록 (the more one chews)

좋다 (to be good) → 좋을수록 (the better)

볼수록 매력 있어. / 공부할수록 재미있어. / 먹을수록 중독돼. / 씹을수록 고소해.

The -(으)ㄹ수록 pattern is part of several common, almost fixed expressions in Korean.

갈수록 (As time goes on)

갈수록 is often used at the beginning of a sentence to mean "increasingly" or "as time goes by." It can describe a situation that is progressively changing.

Idiom: 갈수록 태산이다 literally means "the more you go, the bigger the mountain." It's used when a situation goes from bad to worse.

빠를수록 좋다 (The sooner, the better)

This is a very common and useful phrase. You can substitute other adjectives into this structure as well.

많을수록 좋아요. (The more, the better.)

가까울수록 좋아요. (The closer, the better.)

갈수록 태산이네. / 빠를수록 좋아. / 시간이 지날수록 걱정돼요. / 가까울수록 단순해야 해요.

To add extra emphasis to the proportional relationship, you can repeat the verb using the structure -(으)면 -(으)ㄹ수록.

Meaning & Usage

This form translates to something like "the even more you do X, the more Y happens." It strongly highlights the direct correlation between the action and the result.