Lesson 108: すれば...するほど Sureba...

Suruhodo

Summary
すれば..するほど is a very commonly used grammatical construction in daily
Japanese conversation. It means the more you do something, the more
something else happens.

Vocabulary list in order of appearance in podcast

Japanese Pronunciation English meaning

勉強 benkyou study
難しい muzukashii difficult
語学 gogaku language study
諦めないで akiramenaide don’t give up
お菓子 okashi sweets
ばれちゃった barechatta busted / exposed
控えなくちゃ hikaenakucha to hold back / be
restrained
月額 gatsugaku monthly amount / salary
ぎりぎり girigiri only just enough

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Here are some examples of sureba...suruhodo from the podcast:

Conversation 01
a) どう？勉強はかどっている？
b) うー、 日本語って難しい！！！
a) そうだね。でも語学は勉強すればするほどますます上手になるものだか
ら、諦めないで！

a) dou. benkyou hakadotteru

b) uu, nihongo tte muzukashii
a) sou da ne. demo gogaku ha sureba suru hodo masu masu jouzu naru mono
dakara, akiramenai de

a) How is it? Are you making progress with your study?

b) Hmm, Japanese is difficult.
a) That’s true. But with languages, the more you study, the better you get,
don’t give up.

Conversation 02
a) こら！またお菓子食べている！
b) あ、ばれちゃった 笑。
a) 甘いものは、食べれば食べるほど太るんだよ。
b) そうだね、控えなくちゃ。

a) kora. mata okashi tabeteru

b) a, barechatta. (warai)
a) amai mono wa tabereba taberuhodo futorun da yo
b) sou da ne. Hikaenakucha.

a) Oi! You’re eating sweets again!

b) Ah, you busted me. (laugh)
a) The more sweet things you eat, the fatter you will become
b) That’s right, I must cut down (lit. restrain myself)

Conversation 03
a) で、月額いくらの仕事なの？
b) それが生活ギリギリのお給料みたい。
a) やっぱりお給料は多ければ多いほどいいよね。
b) そうだね。ほかの仕事も探してみよう。

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a) de, getsugaku ikura no shigoto na no
b) sore ga seikatsu giri giri no okyuuryou mitai
a) yappari okyuuryou wa ookereba ooi hodo ii yo ne
b) sou da ne. hoka no shigoto mo sagashite miyou

a) So, what’s the monthly salary like?

b) It looks like it barely covers living costs.
a) Of course, the bigger the salary the better
b) Right. I’ll look for another job.

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