More and more in Italian
In English, these expressions are called double comparatives. To convey the meaning of “more and more” in Italian we use the following construction:
verb + sempre più + adjective or adverb or noun
Have a look at some examples:
Giulia sta diventando sempre più intelligente.
Giulia is getting more and more intelligent.
Questo prodotto viene comprato sempre più spesso.
This product is being bought more and more often.
As you know, if the adjective used is short, in English, you can also decide to add the suffix -er to it, and repeat it twice.
In Italian, the construction will be the same.
Fa sempre più freddo.
It is getting colder and colder.
Less and less in Italian
To translate “less and less” in Italian we use exactly the same construction, but we use the word meno (less) instead of più (more).
Easy enough, don’t you think?
verb + sempre meno + adjective or adverb or noun
Let’s see some examples:
Giulio mi sembra sempre meno simpatico.
Giulio seems to me less and less pleasant.
C’è sempre meno povertà in quest’area.
There is less and less poverty in this area.
Sempre meno also translates “fewer and fewer“, which is used in English with countable nouns:
C’è sempre meno gente qui.
There are fewer and fewer people here.
Sempre di meno, sempre di più
In English, you can also use the expressions “more and more” and “less and less” with a verb that is not followed by any adverb, noun, or adjective.
What do you do in Italian then? In this case, when we want to talk about something happening more and more, or a quantity being less and less.
For example, we simply add the preposition di in between the two words:
- Verb + Sempre di più.
- Verb + Sempre di meno.
Let’s have a look at some examples:
Sta piovendo sempre di più in questi giorni.
It is raining more and more these days.
Questi dispositivi costano sempre di meno.
These devices are cheaper and cheaper (cost less and less).
Sto uscendo sempre di meno in questi mesi.
I am going out less and less these months.
Mi piaci sempre di più.
I like you more and more.
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