Level 3 · Intermediate
More and more: 越来越
越来越 + Adj. / 越 A 越 B · Traditional: 越來越 + Adj. / 越 A 越 B
越来越 (yuè lái yuè) before an adjective means it keeps increasing over time: 天气越来越热了 "the weather is getting hotter and hotter". The sentence often ends in 了 because it describes a change.
The fuller pattern 越 A 越 B ties two things together — the more A, the more B: 越吃越想吃 "the more you eat, the more you want to eat", 雨越下越大 "the rain is falling harder and harder". In both patterns the adjective stays bare — no 很.
Examples
天气越来越热了。
天氣越來越熱了。
tiān qì yuè lái yuè rè le
The weather is getting hotter and hotter.
你的中文越来越好了。
你的中文越來越好了。
nǐ de zhōng wén yuè lái yuè hǎo le
Your Chinese is getting better and better.
这个菜越吃越想吃。
這個菜越吃越想吃。
zhè ge cài yuè chī yuè xiǎng chī
The more I eat this dish, the more I want to eat it.
雨越下越大。
yǔ yuè xià yuè dà
The rain is falling harder and harder.
Common mistakes
✗ 天气越来越很热。
✓ 天气越来越热。
The adjective after 越来越 stays bare — no 很.
Related grammar points
Practice this pattern in graded stories like The Photo Clue (Part 7), A Morning Together (Part 4), In the Fields (Part 2) inside the Literate Chinese app.
