# the sooner, the better



## jana.bo99

Croatian  -  Čim prije, tim bolje!

Slovenian - Rana ura, zlata ura!
(is not the same, but means the same)


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## jazyk

The soon*er*, the better in Portuguese is:
Quanto mais cedo, melhor.


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## Drechuin

French: Le plus tôt sera le mieux.


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## irene.acler

*Italian*: prima è meglio è

*Spanish*: cuanto antes, mejor


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## Joannes

Dutch: *hoe vroeger hoe beter*


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## kusurija

Czech:
Čím dřív/dříve, tím líp/lépe.
(less formal/more formal)
Lithuanian: (I'm not sure, maybe so
Juo anksčiau - juo geriau. (if not so, please repair my mistakes)


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## dn88

*Polish:*
_
Im wcześniej, tym lepiej._


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## deine

kusurija said:


> Lithuanian: (I'm not sure, maybe so
> Juo anksčiau - juo geriau. (if not so, please repair my mistakes)


 
It is correct, but I preffer this one:

Kuo anksčiau, tuo geriau.


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## Maja

In Serbian: 
Što pre, to bolje (Cyrillic: Што пре, то боље).


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## Lingvisten

Danish:
Jo før, jo bedre


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## Qcumber

Perhaps forumites answering this thread should specify whether the forms used are comparatives as in English.
This is obvious for many of us in some Indo-european languages, not so in the others.


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## MarX

Indonesian:

lebih cepät, lebih baik.


They are comparative forms:

cepät = quick
lebih cepät = quicker

baik = good
lebih baik = better


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## Mac_Linguist

*Macedonian:*

_Што побргу, тоа подобро._


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## HistofEng

Haitian Creole:

_Pi bonè, pi bon_

or

_Pi annavans, pi bon_


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## jana.bo99

I have forgot,

German -  Je eher, desto besser!


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## Qcumber

MarX said:


> *lebih* cepät, lebih baik. They are comparative forms: cepät = quick / lebih cepät = quicker
> baik = good; lebih baik = better


Tagalog (Philippine) has the cognate *labí*, but it is not used to make comparatives.

In today's colloquial Tagalog, Span. *más* "more" is used.
hence: *Más mabilís, más mabúti.* 
/ more / fast / more / good /

In modern written Tagalog, _más_ is replaced by *lálò* ['la:lo?], that is followed by the linker -*ng*: *lálong* ['la:loN].
hence: *Lálong mabilís, lálong mabúti.*

In classical Tagalog, the first clause was introduced by *kung* "if", and the second clause by the connector *ay*. hence: *Kung lálong mabilís, ay lálong mabúti.*


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## Flaminius

Japanese:
The construction equivalent to the English "the ~er, the =er" is "(~kereba) ~hodo, =."  Applied to the expression at hand, it is;
(haya kereba) hayai hodo, ii
where _hayai_ is "soon" and _ii_ is "good."  Japanese adjectives do not inflect for comparative or superlative class.


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## Hal1fax

dn88 said:


> *Polish:*
> _
> Im wcześniej, tym lepiej._




or maybe 'im prędzej, tym lepiej'


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## dn88

Hal1fax said:


> or maybe 'im prędzej, tym lepiej'



It works too, but I would say that "wcześniej" is a more up-to-date word.


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## Litvinussius

Belarusian
Чым хутчэй, тым лепш


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## chriskardos

in Hungarian:
Minél elöbb, annál jobb 
and also
Minél hamarabb, annál jobb.


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Kung mabilis, mabuti.


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## A.O.T.

*Ukrainian*: Чим хутчіше, тим ліпше (Сhym hutchishe, tym lipshe). 
Напевне білоруси з української мови списали багато зі своїх слів та дещо спаплюжили їх згодом.


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## AutumnOwl

*Swedish*: _Ju förr, desto bättre_


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## apmoy70

We have a catch phrase in Greek from the ancient language that we use as a proverb in the modern language:
«Τὸ γοργὸν καὶ χάριν ἔχει»
(in modern Greek pronunciation):
/to ɣor'ɣon ce 'xarin 'eçi/
something like, "speed has its merits"
but, as always with Greek, there's a Pythagorean saying that describes the exact opposite, and is used a proverb in the modern language:
«Σπεῦδε βραδέως»
(in modern Greek pronunciation):
/'spevðe vra'ðeos/
lit. "hurry slowly"


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: Колкото по-скоро, толкова по-добре.


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## Saluton

Russian: чем скорей/скорее, тем лучше (chem skorey/skoreye, tem luchshe).


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## Rallino

Turkish:

*Ne kadar erken; o kadar iyi.* (lit. How much soon - that much good.)


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## djara

Arabic خير البر عاجله khayr al-birri 3aajiluh Generosity is best when fast
Said when you want to urge someone to be quick or to appreciate when someone is being reactive


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## mataripis

Tagalogag higit na mabilis, talagang mabuti!


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## alfie1888

apmoy70 said:


> We have a catch phrase in Greek from the ancient language that we use as a proverb in the modern language:
> «Τὸ γοργὸν καὶ χάριν ἔχει»
> (in modern Greek pronunciation):
> /to ɣor'ɣon ce 'xarin 'eçi/
> something like, "speed has its merits"
> but, as always with Greek, there's a Pythagorean saying that describes the exact opposite, and is used a proverb in the modern language:
> «Σπεῦδε βραδέως»
> (in modern Greek pronunciation):
> /'spevðe vra'ðeos/
> lit. "hurry slowly"



Whatever happened to "όσο πιο σύντομα τόσο καλύτερα" ??


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## apmoy70

alfie1888 said:


> Whatever happened to "όσο πιο σύντομα τόσο καλύτερα" ??


 It stubbornly remains in use but it's not an idiomatic phrase, if I'm not mistaken the OP was asking for idioms


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## mataripis

Qcumber said:


> Tagalog (Philippine) has the cognate *labí*, but it is not used to make comparatives.
> 
> In today's colloquial Tagalog, Span. *más* "more" is used.
> hence: *Más mabilís, más mabúti.*
> / more / fast / more / good /
> 
> In modern written Tagalog, _más_ is replaced by *lálò* ['la:lo?], that is followed by the linker -*ng*: *lálong* ['la:loN].
> hence: *Lálong mabilís, lálong mabúti.*
> 
> In classical Tagalog, the first clause was introduced by *kung* "if", and the second clause by the connector *ay*. hence: *Kung lálong mabilís, ay lálong mabúti.*


I want to add the Southern Tagalog expression(It is my Province).  1.) describing the scene= pag binilisan kay inam nga.  2.) Imperative: Biliseh nga nang mapaige pa!


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## jana.bo99

irene.acler said:


> *Italian*: prima è meglio è
> *Spanish*: cuanto antes, mejor



Hi Irene, 

This is good for me: because now my Spanish is much better and my Italian is worse. 

Thank you,
B.


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## Youngfun

The Chinese equivalent for the English "the ~er the ~er" is 越~越~
In this case: 
越早越好


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## aruniyan

Tamil Proverbs I remember,


பருவத்தே பயிர் செய்  -* Paruvathe*(period) *Payir*(cereals) *Sei*(do) - sow seeds in the right period, do not miss it.


இளமையில் கல் ! - *Ilamayil*(when young) * Kal*(learn) - Learn when young.


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## Youngfun

This reminds me of two famous verses of a Chinese poem.

少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。
If one does not exert oneself in youth, one will regret it in old age.


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## Rekin

First thing that came to my mind was: "Im szybciej, tym lepiej". It also has the highest score in Google


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## 810senior

Youngfun said:


> This reminds me of two famous verses of a Chinese poem.
> 
> 少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。
> If one does not exert oneself in youth, one will regret it in old age.



[I'm afraid the reply is done too late...]
Yours also reminds me of one famous prose written by *Chuhsi*(朱子, pronounced in Japanese as _syushi_)
The original text is of course described in Ancient Chinese and what is translated into Japanese below.

少年老い易く学成り難し_shounen oiyasuku gaku narigatashi_ (Original:*少年易老學難成*)
Young boys are easy to be getting old but the learning is hard to be accomplished.


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## Dymn

*Catalan*:
_com més aviat millor_


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## Encolpius

chriskardos said:


> in Hungarian: Minél elöbb, annál jobb



Minél el*ő*bb, annál jobb.


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