Correlative conjunctions come in pairs that work together: both...and, either...or, neither...nor, the...the, not only...but also. Danish has a clean set of these, and most of them behave just as you'd expect — but two of them, jo...desto and the fronted versions, trigger verb inversion that catches English speakers off guard. The skill here is twofold: matching the two halves of the pair correctly, and knowing when the structure forces the verb to move.
Både...og — "both...and"
Både...og links two items as a joint, emphatic pair. Place både before the first item, og before the second. The two items must be grammatically parallel — two nouns, two verbs, two adjectives.
Hun taler både dansk og spansk flydende.
She speaks both Danish and Spanish fluently.
Vi skal både handle ind og lave mad inden gæsterne kommer.
We have to both do the shopping and cook before the guests arrive.
When både...og joins two singular subjects, the verb is plural — the pair adds up to "more than one".
Både læreren og rektoren var til stede.
Both the teacher and the principal were present.
Enten...eller — "either...or"
Enten...eller presents two alternatives, exactly one of which holds. Enten marks the first option, eller the second. If you front enten to the start of the sentence for emphasis, V2 inversion kicks in on the following clause.
Vi kan enten tage toget eller leje en bil.
We can either take the train or rent a car.
Enten kommer du nu, eller også går vi uden dig.
Either you come now, or we leave without you.
Notice the second example: fronting enten forces inversion (kommer du, not du kommer), and the second half is reinforced with eller også ("or else"), a very common Danish strengthening of the eller.
Hverken...eller — "neither...nor"
Hverken...eller is the negative member of this family: it denies both alternatives at once. Because hverken already carries the negation, you must not add ikke. (This pair is treated in depth on the coordinated-negation page; here it slots in beside its positive cousins.)
Han var hverken sulten eller tørstig.
He was neither hungry nor thirsty.
Jeg har hverken tid eller lyst til at diskutere det nu.
I have neither the time nor the desire to discuss it now.
Lined up together, the three ...eller pairs map a tidy logical space: både...og (both true), enten...eller (exactly one true), hverken...eller (neither true).
Jo...desto / jo...jo — "the...the"
This pair expresses proportion: as one thing increases, so does the other. Danish uses jo in the first clause and desto (or, more colloquially, a second jo) in the second. Both clauses front a comparative, and this is the construction's signature trap: the desto-clause inverts — verb before subject — because the comparative phrase is fronted.
Jo mere du øver dig, desto bedre bliver du.
The more you practise, the better you get.
Jo længere vi ventede, desto mere nervøse blev vi.
The longer we waited, the more nervous we got.
Look at the second clause each time: desto bedre bliver du (verb bliver before subject du), desto mere nervøse blev vi. The desto-clause is the main clause, and the fronted comparative (desto bedre, desto mere nervøse) triggers V2 inversion. The jo-clause behaves differently: it is a subordinate clause, so even though it fronts its own comparative (jo mere, jo længere), the rest stays in subordinate order — subject before verb (du øver dig, vi ventede), not inverted. So only one half flips. The colloquial jo...jo version works the same way:
Jo mere, jo bedre.
The more, the better.
Ikke kun/blot...men også — "not only...but also"
This pair adds the second item to the first with emphasis. Ikke kun (or the slightly more formal ikke blot) opens, men også introduces the second. If you front ikke kun to the start of the sentence, V2 inversion applies — just as with any fronted element.
Hun er ikke kun dygtig, men også utrolig hjælpsom.
She is not only skilled but also incredibly helpful.
Ikke kun forstod han problemet, men han løste det også på rekordtid.
Not only did he understand the problem, but he also solved it in record time.
The second example shows the inversion clearly: fronting ikke kun gives forstod han (verb before subject), mirroring the English "not only did he understand". Ikke blot is the same construction in a more formal register (formal/literary).
Common Mistakes
❌ Hun taler både dansk eller spansk.
Incorrect — mismatched pair; både goes with og.
✅ Hun taler både dansk og spansk.
She speaks both Danish and Spanish.
Keep the halves matched: både...og, enten...eller, hverken...eller. Mixing både...eller is a frequent slip.
❌ Jo mere du øver dig, desto bedre du bliver.
Incorrect — the desto-clause must invert.
✅ Jo mere du øver dig, desto bedre bliver du.
The more you practise, the better you get.
The fronted comparative desto bedre forces verb-before-subject: bliver du, not du bliver.
❌ Jeg har hverken tid eller ikke lyst.
Incorrect — double negation; hverken already negates.
✅ Jeg har hverken tid eller lyst.
I have neither the time nor the desire.
Both items in hverken...eller are stated positively; the pair supplies the negation.
❌ Enten du kommer nu, eller vi går.
Awkward — fronted enten should trigger inversion in the first clause.
✅ Enten kommer du nu, eller også går vi.
Either you come now, or else we go.
When enten opens the sentence, invert: kommer du. Danish also tends to reinforce the second half with eller også.
Key Takeaways
- Match the pair: både...og, enten...eller, hverken...eller, ikke kun...men også.
- Både...og takes a plural verb when it joins two subjects.
- Hverken...eller is the negative pair — never add ikke.
- Jo...desto fronts a comparative in both clauses, but only the desto-clause (the main clause) inverts — the jo-clause is subordinate and keeps subject-before-verb.
- Fronting enten or ikke kun triggers V2 inversion in that clause.
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Hverken...eller and Coordinated NegationB2 — How to negate two things at once in Danish — hverken...eller, the additive heller ikke, and the uden at construction.
- Coordinating Conjunctions: Og, Men, Eller, For, SåA1 — The five Danish coordinators join clauses of equal rank without changing word order — plus the for vs fordi 'because' contrast and the og/at homophone trap.
- Comparison: -ere and -estA2 — Regular Danish gradation: comparative -ere and superlative -est/-st, the consonant-doubling cases, the definite -e on the superlative, and the dividing line between synthetic endings and periphrastic mere/mest.
- Comparative and Result ClausesC1 — Comparison and result at the clause level in Danish — end ('than'), som/ligesom ('as/like'), the jo…desto/jo…jo correlative ('the…the'), the så…at result clause ('so…that'), and the for…til at frame ('too…to') — with the case after end and the word order in correlatives.