Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
In the very famous song called "Chiisana Koi no Uta - 小さな恋のうた", there's a sentence:
ほら あなたにとって大事な人ほど すぐそばにいるの
what does "ほど" mean here? I've tried to search, here're some results I've got:
They make no sense to me. Anyone give help?
「ほら、あなたにとって大事な人ほどすぐそばにいるの。」
It seems that you have overanalyzed things a bit. Big words such as "degree" and "extent" are certainly relevant here with regards to comprehending how 「ほど」 functions in the sentence in question, but the moment you try to use those words in your translation attempt, things will fall apart immediately.
「A + ほど + B」 simply means:
"The more A, the more B."
You will keep encountering this sentence pattern for as long as you study Japanese. It is not only an important grammar point but also an extremely useful expression.
If you allow me to mix the two languages for a moment, here is what you need to be "seeing" in your head.
「ほら、あなたにとって the more 大事な人（は） the more すぐそばにいるの。」
Please note that unlike "the more", which is used twice in English,「ほど」 is used only once in this sentence pattern.
Thus, the sentence means:
"Look, the more important a person is for you, the closer s/he lives to you."
