Correlative Conjunctions: bæði...og, hvorki...né

A correlative conjunction comes in two parts that work as a team: one piece marks the start of the construction, the second piece links the two items. English has them too — both ... and, neither ... nor, either ... or — so the concept transfers cleanly. What does not transfer is which Icelandic word pairs with which, and a couple of agreement and concord rules that English handles loosely but Icelandic enforces. The two errors to inoculate yourself against now are mixing the pairs (saying bæði ... eða the way English speakers sometimes blur "both ... or") and breaking the negative concord of hvorki ... né. Get the pairs locked and these become some of the most satisfying structures in the language. (For the plain single coordinators og, en, eða, né, see conjunctions/coordinating.)

The five pairs at a glance

Each first element demands its specific partner. bæði wants og; hvorki wants né; annaðhvort and hvort want eða; ekki aðeins wants heldur einnig (or its variants). You cannot cross them.

bæði ... og — "both ... and"

bæði ... og is "both ... and," and there's a lovely piece of internal logic here: bæði is the neuter form of báðir ("both"). So "both ... and" literally reuses the quantifier "both" — you're saying "both and B." That's why it's bæði with the æ (a single character — never baedi or baeði) and why it feels like a natural extension of the word for "both."

The agreement effect: bæði ... og takes a plural

When bæði ... og joins two singular subjects, the verb (and any predicate) typically goes plural — because "both A and B" is genuinely two things, and Icelandic agreement follows the real number. English does this too ("Both Anna and Jón are coming"), but it's worth stating explicitly because learners sometimes keep the verb singular by analogy with the nearest noun.

Note the second agreement detail in those examples: when the two subjects are of mixed gender (a man and a woman, Anna og Jón), the predicate adjective and participle go neuter plural (komin, þreytt) — the default for mixed groups. This is the same neuter-as-default rule you meet whenever Icelandic has to agree with a mixed-gender plural.

hvorki ... né — "neither ... nor"

hvorki ... né is "neither ... nor," and it is the standard way to deny two things at once. Two things to nail down. First, the spelling: it is hvorki (with the hv- cluster) paired with né — and né always keeps its accent. ne without the accent is simply not a word.

Negative concord: the verb stays positive

Here is the rule that trips up English speakers. hvorki ... né already carries the negation — the construction itself means "not either one." So the verb stays grammatically positive: you do not add a separate ekki. English does the same ("I have neither time nor money" — not "I haven't neither..."), but learners over-correct, hearing "neither" as needing reinforcement and inserting an extra ekki. Don't. The negativity lives in hvorki ... né; piling on ekki produces a double negative that reads as wrong.

annaðhvort ... eða — "either ... or"

annaðhvort ... eða is "either ... or," presenting two alternatives of which one holds. Spelling note: annaðhvort is written as one word (it bundles annað "one/other" + hvort "of two"). Watch the ð — it's anna*ð*hvort, and the ð never starts the word.

When annaðhvort opens a main clause, remember the V2 rule still applies to the clause as a whole — but the correlative itself doesn't change that; it just frames the two choices.

hvort ... eða — "whether ... or"

hvort ... eða is "whether ... or," used in indirect questions and after verbs of wondering, knowing, and asking. It frames an open question between two (or "or not") possibilities. The fixed tag hvort sem er means "either way / in any case."

Don't confuse this hvort ("whether") with annaðhvort ("either"): hvort ... eða opens an embedded yes/no question ("I don't know whether..."); annaðhvort ... eða asserts a choice ("you can do either...").

ekki aðeins ... heldur einnig — "not only ... but also"

The most rhetorically weighty pair is ekki aðeins ... heldur einnig ("not only ... but also"), with several interchangeable variants: ekki aðeins ... heldur líka, ekki einungis ... heldur einnig, ekki bara ... heldur líka (the last one (informal)). The first half rejects the idea that A is the whole story; the second half adds B as the more striking point.

Notice that this pair uses heldur — the same heldur ("but rather") that follows any negation in Icelandic. That's not a coincidence: ekki aðeins ... heldur is the negation-plus-correction pattern (ekki X heldur Y) scaled up to "not only ... but also." Reaching for en here instead of heldur is a transfer error — after the negative ekki aðeins, the continuation is heldur, never en.

Common Mistakes

The commonest correlative error: crossing the pairs. bæði takes og; eða belongs to annaðhvort/hvort. Keep each first element with its own partner.

hvorki ... né carries its own negation. Adding ekki to the verb makes an ungrammatical double negative.

After hvorki you need né (with the accent), not eða. eða is for the positive "either ... or."

After a negation you're correcting or extending, Icelandic uses heldur, never en. ekki aðeins ... heldur is that same negation-plus-heldur pattern.

bæði A og B is two things, so the verb is plural (eru), and a mixed-gender subject makes the participle neuter plural (komin).

Key Takeaways

• bæði ... og ("both ... and"): bæði is the neuter of báðir; two singular subjects take a plural verb, and a mixed-gender pair takes a neuter plural predicate (komin, þreytt).
• hvorki ... né ("neither ... nor"): it carries its own negation, so the verb stays positive — no extra ekki. And né always keeps its accent.
• annaðhvort ... eða ("either ... or") is one word annaðhvort (with ð); hvort ... eða ("whether ... or") opens an indirect question. Don't confuse the two.
• ekki aðeins ... heldur einnig ("not only ... but also") continues with heldur, never en — it's the negation-plus-heldur pattern scaled up.
• The cardinal sin is mixing the pairs: each first element demands its own partner (bæði→og, hvorki→né, annaðhvort/hvort→eða).