Correlative conjunctions come in two halves that work as a team: an opening signal sets up an expectation, and a second word completes it. English has the same idea — "either...or," "neither...nor," "not only...but also" — so the meanings transfer cleanly. What does not transfer is the word order. Several of these pairs trigger inversion when the first half opens the sentence, and one of them, je...desto, runs a two-clause syntax that English's "the more...the more" gives you no warning about. This page maps each pair to its grammar.
entweder ... oder (either ... or)
entweder ... oder offers an exclusive choice. oder is the everyday coordinator "or," and on its own it leaves word order untouched. But when you front the entweder half so it opens the sentence, entweder fills the Vorfeld and the verb inverts.
Entweder fahren wir mit dem Zug, oder wir nehmen das Auto.
Either we take the train, or we'll take the car. (fronted 'entweder' triggers inversion: 'fahren wir'; the 'oder' clause stays normal V2)
Du kannst entweder den Salat oder die Suppe nehmen.
You can have either the salad or the soup. (here 'entweder' sits mid-clause before two nouns, so no inversion)
The difference between the two examples is purely positional. In the first, entweder opens the clause and counts as position one, so the verb (fahren) is second. In the second, entweder sits inside the clause linking two objects, so nothing inverts. The word oder itself never causes inversion — it is a plain coordinator in position zero.
weder ... noch (neither ... nor)
weder ... noch is the negative counterpart. It already carries the negation, so you do not add nicht or kein. The grammatical surprise is the second half: after noch, the verb inverts, because noch behaves like a fronting adverb.
Er hat weder angerufen, noch hat er eine Nachricht hinterlassen.
He neither called nor left a message. (after 'noch' the verb inverts: 'noch hat er', not 'noch er hat')
Ich kenne weder ihren Namen noch ihre Adresse.
I know neither her name nor her address. (here 'weder...noch' links two objects, so no clause-level inversion)
Weder schmeckt mir der Kaffee, noch mag ich den Tee.
I neither like the coffee nor the tea. (fronted 'weder' inverts: 'schmeckt mir'; and 'noch mag ich' inverts again)
The rule: whenever noch introduces a full clause, the finite verb jumps to second position right after it — noch *hat er, noch **mag ich. This catches almost every English speaker, who expects *noch er hat by analogy with "nor he has." When weder...noch merely joins two nouns or phrases (second example), there is no clause to invert.
sowohl ... als auch (both ... and)
sowohl ... als auch joins two elements as an inclusive pair — both this and that. It almost always links phrases (nouns, adjectives, verbs), not whole clauses, so it causes no inversion. A subject joined by sowohl...als auch normally takes a plural verb.
Sie spricht sowohl Französisch als auch Russisch.
She speaks both French and Russian. (links two objects; no word-order effect)
Sowohl die Eltern als auch die Lehrer waren zufrieden.
Both the parents and the teachers were satisfied. (two plural subjects → plural verb 'waren')
A close synonym is sowohl ... wie auch, which is slightly more formal; als auch is the standard everyday form.
nicht nur ... sondern auch (not only ... but also)
nicht nur ... sondern auch adds emphasis: not just X, but Y on top. When nicht nur opens the clause, it fills the Vorfeld and the verb inverts. The sondern auch half then continues, often as its own clause.
Nicht nur hat sie gewonnen, sondern sie hat auch einen Rekord aufgestellt.
Not only did she win, but she also set a record. (fronted 'nicht nur' inverts: 'hat sie'; the 'sondern' clause is normal V2)
Das Hotel war nicht nur teuer, sondern auch laut.
The hotel was not only expensive but also noisy. (mid-clause 'nicht nur' linking two adjectives → no inversion)
Note that sondern — the contrastive "but rather" coordinator — is the correct second half here, never aber. The construction sets up a correction-and-addition: it denies that X is the only thing and adds Y.
je ... desto / umso (the ... the): the unique one
This is the pair that breaks every English intuition. je ... desto (or je ... umso) expresses proportional change — "the more X, the more Y." English uses two parallel "the more" phrases with ordinary word order. German uses a special two-clause syntax found nowhere else:
- The je clause is subordinate → comparative right after je, and the finite verb goes to the end.
- The desto / umso clause is the main clause → comparative right after desto, and the finite verb comes second.
Je mehr ich lerne, desto besser verstehe ich es.
The more I study, the better I understand it. (je-clause verb-final 'lerne'; desto-clause verb-second 'verstehe ich')
Je länger die Reise dauert, umso müder werden wir.
The longer the journey lasts, the more tired we get. (verb-final 'dauert' in the je-clause; verb-second 'werden wir' in the umso-clause)
Je früher du buchst, desto günstiger wird der Flug.
The earlier you book, the cheaper the flight gets. (verb-final 'buchst'; verb-second 'wird')
| je-clause (first) | desto / umso-clause (second) | |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Subordinate | Main |
| Comparative goes | Right after je | Right after desto/umso |
| Finite verb | At the END | SECOND (inverted) |
| Example | Je mehr ich lerne | desto besser verstehe ich |
The comparatives are obligatory in both halves — je mehr, desto besser, never je viel, desto gut. And both desto and umso are interchangeable: je...desto and je...umso mean exactly the same thing.
zwar ... aber (admittedly ... but)
zwar ... aber concedes a point and then counters it — "admittedly X, but Y." zwar is an adverb that can sit in the Vorfeld (causing inversion) or mid-clause (no inversion); aber is the ordinary coordinator and leaves its clause in V2.
Das Auto ist zwar alt, aber es fährt noch zuverlässig.
The car is admittedly old, but it still runs reliably. (mid-clause 'zwar', no inversion; 'aber' is a plain coordinator)
Zwar war es teuer, aber es hat sich gelohnt.
Admittedly it was expensive, but it was worth it. (fronted 'zwar' inverts: 'war es')
Common Mistakes
No inversion after clause-introducing noch.
❌ Er hat weder angerufen, noch er hat geschrieben.
Incorrect — after clause-introducing 'noch' the verb inverts: 'noch hat er geschrieben.'
✅ Er hat weder angerufen, noch hat er geschrieben.
He neither called nor wrote.
Getting the je...desto orders backwards — putting the verb second in the je-clause.
❌ Je mehr ich verdiene, desto ich gebe mehr aus.
Incorrect — the je-clause is verb-final and the desto-clause is verb-second: 'Je mehr ich verdiene, desto mehr gebe ich aus.'
✅ Je mehr ich verdiene, desto mehr gebe ich aus.
The more I earn, the more I spend.
Forgetting inversion after a fronted entweder.
❌ Entweder wir gehen jetzt, oder wir bleiben.
Incorrect — fronted 'entweder' fills position one, so the verb must be second: 'gehen wir.'
✅ Entweder gehen wir jetzt, oder wir bleiben.
Either we go now, or we stay.
Adding extra negation with weder...noch — it is already negative.
❌ Ich habe weder kein Geld noch keine Zeit.
Incorrect — 'weder...noch' already negates; drop the extra 'kein'.
✅ Ich habe weder Geld noch Zeit.
I have neither money nor time.
Key Takeaways
- entweder...oder and nicht nur...sondern auch trigger inversion when the first half opens the clause; mid-clause they do not.
- After clause-introducing noch (in weder...noch) the finite verb inverts — noch hat er, never noch er hat.
- weder...noch is self-negating; never add nicht or kein.
- sowohl...als auch links phrases and causes no inversion; joined subjects take a plural verb.
- je...desto/umso is unique: the je-clause is verb-final, the desto-clause is verb-second, and both halves require a comparative.
- zwar...aber uses the plain coordinator aber; zwar inverts only when fronted.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
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- Comparisons of Equality and GradationB1 — How to say 'as ... as', 'more and more', and 'the ... the' in German with so ... wie, immer + comparative, and je ... desto.
- Irregular Comparatives and SuperlativesB1 — The suppletive and irregular comparison forms to memorize — gut/besser/best-, viel/mehr/meist-, hoch, nah, groß — and the all-important gern/lieber/am liebsten preference ladder.
- Anticipatory es and Correlative ConstructionsC1 — How German uses es and the da-compounds (darauf, darüber, daran) to point forward to a dass- or zu-clause, and when these correlates are obligatory.
- Verb-Second (V2): The Core Rule of German Word OrderA1 — The finite verb is always the second element in a German main clause — exactly one constituent precedes it, and the subject jumps behind the verb whenever something else is fronted.
- Negation, Correction (sondern), and doch as a Positive AnswerA2 — How 'sondern' corrects a negated statement and how 'doch' contradicts a negative — German's third answer word with no English equivalent.