càng ngày càng

More and More Each Day

Level 2

"More and more" or "increasingly" over time.

How It Works

The pattern càng ngày càng translates to "more and more" or "increasingly". Literally meaning "the more days [pass], the more...", it is used to describe a quality, state, action, or quantity that is progressively changing over time. Note that it translates to "less and less" when paired with words that mean "little/few" (like ít), "poor" (like kém), or verbs of reduction (like giảm or bớt).

1. How to use it
This pattern can either stay together after the subject or split around it. Use the formula Subject + càng ngày càng + Adjective / Verb / Adverb, or the split structure Càng ngày + Subject + càng + Adjective / Verb / Adverb. Place it directly before an adjective, a stative/psychological verb (like thích - to like), a verb of change/development (like phát triển - to develop, tăng - to increase), or an adverb. When modifying an action verb with an adverb, the pattern can go either before the action verb (Subject + càng ngày càng + Action Verb + Adverb) or between the verb and the adverb (Subject + Action Verb + càng ngày càng + Adverb).

When talking about "more and more [nouns]" or "fewer and fewer [nouns]", use the formula Càng ngày càng + (có) + nhiều/ít + [Noun]. This phrase usually goes at the beginning of the clause, acting like a dummy subject (similar to "There are increasingly..."). Note that the word có is frequently dropped in natural everyday speech.

  • Trời càng ngày càng nóng. / Càng ngày trời càng nóng. (The weather is getting hotter and hotter.)
  • Tôi càng ngày càng thích tiếng Việt. / Càng ngày tôi càng thích tiếng Việt. (I like Vietnamese more and more.)
  • Anh ấy càng ngày càng chạy nhanh. / Anh ấy chạy càng ngày càng nhanh. (He runs faster and faster.)
  • Càng ngày càng (có) nhiều người học tiếng Việt. (More and more people are learning Vietnamese.)
  • Càng ngày càng (có) ít thời gian. (There is less and less time.)

2. Variants: càng lúc càng, ngày càng, and ngày một
This pattern is the standard, natural way to express this concept in everyday spoken Vietnamese. For changes happening over a shorter, immediate time frame (moment by moment), you will often hear càng lúc càng (literally "the more moments [pass], the more..."). You might also see the shorter variant ngày càng, which is slightly less emphatic and more formal, though still widely used in spoken Vietnamese. Note that unlike càng ngày càng, the shorter variants ngày càng and ngày một cannot be split around the subject. Another interchangeable variant you will frequently encounter is ngày một, which is often paired with comparative words or directional verbs (e.g., sức khỏe ngày một tốt lên - health is getting better and better).

3. Built from The More ... The More
It is helpful to know that càng ngày càng is actually a fixed application of the broader càng [A] càng [B] structure (literally "the more days pass, the more..."). However, while càng [A] càng [B] links two different variables in a proportional cause-and-effect relationship (e.g., "The more you study, the more you know"), càng ngày càng describes a single variable changing as time passes.

Examples (4)

  1. Trời càng ngày càng nóng.

    The weather keeps getting hotter.

    Word by Word: Sky more and more hot.

    Placed directly before the adjective 'nóng' (hot) to show a gradual increase over time.

  2. Cô ấy càng ngày càng tự tin.

    She is becoming increasingly confident.

    Word by Word: She more and more confident.

    Shows a progressive increase in a personal trait.

  3. Tôi càng ngày càng thích món ăn Việt Nam.

    I like Vietnamese food more and more every day.

    Word by Word: I more and more like dish food Vietnam.

    Demonstrates that this pattern works perfectly with psychological verbs like 'thích' (to like), not just adjectives.

  4. Càng ngày càng có nhiều sinh viên muốn thi vào trường này.

    More and more students want to be admitted to this college.

    Word by Word: More and more have many student want take exam enter school this.

    To say 'more and more [noun]', you must use 'có nhiều' (have many) after the pattern.

Common Mistakes

  • Placing the pattern after the adjective.

    Trời nóng càng ngày càng.
    Trời càng ngày càng nóng.

    English speakers often over-apply the standard Vietnamese comparative rule (where words like More / -er go after the adjective). However, 'càng ngày càng' must always be placed directly before the adjective, verb, adverb, or quantifier.

  • Attaching the pattern directly to a noun.

    Càng ngày càng người học tiếng Việt.
    Càng ngày càng có nhiều người học tiếng Việt.

    This pattern cannot attach directly to nouns. To translate 'more and more people', you must use a quantifier like 'nhiều' (many) or 'ít' (few) before the noun. While the word 'có' (to have / there is) is often used before the quantifier (making it 'càng ngày càng có nhiều người'), it is optional in everyday speech and can be dropped ('càng ngày càng nhiều người').

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

càng ngày càngLevel 2More and More Each Day

Learn This First

To understand 'càng ngày càng', you first need to understand the general 'càng... càng...' (the more... the more...) structure. This specific version uses 'ngày' (day) to indicate that the change is happening progressively over time. You should also be comfortable with how Vietnamese adjectives function as verbs to describe states.

Words in This Pattern