A correlative conjunction comes in two pieces that work as a team: a first marker opens the construction and a second marker closes it, with the two linked items sitting between them. English has the same idea — both…and, either…or, neither…nor — so the concept transfers cleanly. What does not transfer is the detail: verken…eller is already negative (so adding ikke breaks it), både…og is not the same word as begge, and the jo…desto pair forces an inversion English never makes. This page works through each pair, the parallel-structure rule they all obey, and the traps that catch English speakers. For plain single coordinators (og, eller, men), see coordinating conjunctions.
The parallel-structure rule (it governs all of them)
Every correlative pair obeys one principle: whatever grammatical category follows the first marker must also follow the second. If både is followed by a noun, og must also be followed by a noun; if enten is followed by a verb, eller must too. Break the parallel and the sentence sounds off to a native ear in exactly the way "I both like coffee and tea" sounds off in English (it should be "I like both coffee and tea").
Hun snakker både norsk og svensk.
She speaks both Norwegian and Swedish. (noun ↔ noun)
Du kan enten ringe eller sende e-post.
You can either call or send an email. (verb ↔ verb)
The logic: the two markers are bookends around two items that fill the same slot in the sentence. Place the first marker right before the point where the two items diverge, and the parallel takes care of itself.
både…og — "both…and"
Både…og joins two (occasionally more) items and presents them as a pair, both fully included. Note the å: it is både, not bade.
Både Ola og Kari kom på festen.
Both Ola and Kari came to the party.
Jeg trenger både tid og penger for å få det til.
I need both time and money to pull it off.
Leiligheten har både balkong og parkeringsplass.
The flat has both a balcony and a parking space.
Verb agreement with a både…og subject
When både X og Y is the subject, it is plural — two people or things — so the verb is the ordinary (uninflected) Norwegian verb form anyway, but the mental model matters: treat it like a plural. You would say Både Ola og Kari kom ("came"), never a singular-feeling agreement.
Både sjefen og kollegene mine var enige.
Both my boss and my colleagues agreed.
Do not confuse både with begge
This is the single most common English-speaker error. Begge means "both" as a standalone determiner or pronoun ("both books", "both of them") and does not introduce an og-pair. For "both…and" linking two named items, you need både…og. See begge vs både for the full split.
Jeg har lest begge bøkene.
I've read both (the) books. (begge = determiner, one set)
Jeg har lest både romanen og diktsamlingen.
I've read both the novel and the poetry collection. (både…og = two named items)
enten…eller — "either…or"
Enten…eller presents two alternatives, exactly one of which holds (or will be chosen). The first marker is enten; the closing marker is the everyday word eller ("or").
Vi drar enten på fredag eller på lørdag.
We're leaving either on Friday or on Saturday.
Du må enten betale nå eller vente til neste måned.
You have to either pay now or wait until next month.
Enten gjør vi det skikkelig, eller så lar vi være.
Either we do it properly, or we don't do it at all.
That last example shows a useful pattern: when enten fronts a whole clause, the second half often picks up a resumptive så — eller så… — and the clause after it inverts (verb before subject), because så fills the first slot. This eller så turn is extremely common and idiomatic in speech.
verken…eller — "neither…nor" (and why no extra ikke)
Here is the pair that trips up nearly every English speaker. Verken…eller means "neither…nor", and crucially it is already negative. The word verken carries the negation by itself, so you add no ikke. Putting ikke in as well produces a double negative that is simply wrong in Norwegian.
Jeg har verken tid eller lyst.
I have neither time nor inclination.
Han sa verken ja eller nei.
He said neither yes nor no.
De hadde verken mat eller vann igjen.
They had neither food nor water left.
Notice the closing marker: it is eller, the same "or" as in enten…eller — not a second verken. English uses "nor" as the closer ("neither…nor"), but Norwegian reuses eller. So the pattern is verken … eller, never verken … verken.
Spelling: verken or hverken?
Both spellings exist. Verken is the standard modern Bokmål form and the one to write today. Hverken (with a silent h-) is an older, traditional spelling — still seen in print and not wrong, but dated. Stick with verken.
| Form | Status |
|---|---|
| verken | standard modern Bokmål — use this |
| hverken | (traditional) older spelling, still accepted, sounds dated |
ikke bare…men også — "not only…but also"
To add emphasis ("not only X, but also Y"), Norwegian uses ikke bare … men også. The parallel rule still holds: the same category follows bare and også.
Hun er ikke bare flink, men også utrolig hyggelig.
She's not only clever, but also incredibly nice.
Det var ikke bare dyrt, men også dårlig laget.
It was not only expensive, but also badly made.
jo…desto / jo…jo — "the more…the more"
The proportional pair links two scales that rise together: "the more I read, the more I understand." Norwegian uses jo … desto or, more colloquially, jo … jo. The key structural fact English speakers miss: the second clause (the desto/jo clause) inverts — the verb comes before the subject.
Jo mer jeg leser, desto mer forstår jeg.
The more I read, the more I understand. (note: 'forstår jeg' — verb before subject)
Jo eldre jeg blir, jo mindre bryr jeg meg.
The older I get, the less I care.
Jo lenger vi ventet, desto mer irriterte ble vi.
The longer we waited, the more annoyed we got.
Why the inversion? Because desto mer (or jo mindre) fills the first slot of the second clause, and the V2 rule then forces the finite verb into slot two, ahead of the subject — forstår jeg, bryr jeg meg, ble vi. It feels strange to an English speaker, who keeps subject-first ("the more I understand"), but it is obligatory.
så…at — "so…that"
The pair så … at expresses degree-and-result: "so [adjective/adverb] that [consequence]." Så scales the quality; at introduces the resulting clause (a subordinate clause, so no inversion inside it).
Det var så kaldt at vannet frøs på et kvarter.
It was so cold that the water froze in fifteen minutes.
Hun løp så fort at ingen klarte å ta henne igjen.
She ran so fast that no one could catch up with her.
såvel…som — "as well as" (formal)
A more formal correlative is såvel … som ("X as well as Y"). It belongs to written and elevated registers; in speech you would normally just use både…og. Note the å: såvel.
Forslaget gjelder såvel ansatte som ledelse.
The proposal applies to employees as well as management. (formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg har ikke verken tid eller penger.
Double negative — verken is already negative, so ikke is wrong.
✅ Jeg har verken tid eller penger.
I have neither time nor money.
Verken supplies the negation on its own. Never pair it with ikke.
❌ Jeg har verken tid verken penger.
Wrong closer — the second marker must be eller, not a repeated verken.
✅ Jeg har verken tid eller penger.
I have neither time nor money.
The pattern is verken … eller — the closer is "or", not a second "neither".
❌ Begge Ola og Kari kom.
Wrong word — begge doesn't introduce an og-pair.
✅ Både Ola og Kari kom.
Both Ola and Kari came.
To link two named items, use både…og. Begge is a standalone "both" (begge bøkene).
❌ Jo mer jeg leser, jo mer jeg forstår.
Missing inversion — the second clause must invert: forstår jeg.
✅ Jo mer jeg leser, jo mer forstår jeg.
The more I read, the more I understand.
The jo/desto clause fronts a degree phrase, so V2 forces verb-before-subject.
❌ Hun snakker både norsk og hun skriver svensk.
Broken parallel — både precedes a noun, og precedes a clause.
✅ Hun både snakker norsk og skriver svensk.
She both speaks Norwegian and writes Swedish. (verb ↔ verb)
Keep the same category after both markers — here, two verbs.
Key Takeaways
- All correlatives obey parallel structure: the same category follows both markers.
- både…og = "both…and" (two named items); not the same word as begge ("both" determiner).
- enten…eller = "either…or"; when fronting a clause, the second half often becomes eller så
- inversion.
- verken…eller = "neither…nor" — already negative, so no ikke; the closer is eller, not a second verken. Standard spelling verken (older hverken).
- jo…desto / jo…jo = "the more…the more" — the second clause inverts.
- så…at = "so…that"; såvel…som = "as well as" (formal).
Now practice Norwegian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Coordinating Conjunctions: men, eller, for, såA2 — How men (but), eller (or), for (for/because) and så (so) join equal clauses without disturbing word order, and why for is a coordinating 'because' that behaves nothing like the subordinating fordi.
- begge, både and Expressing 'Both'B1 — English 'both' splits into two Norwegian words — begge, the quantifier over a known pair that takes a definite noun (begge bilene, begge to), and the correlative conjunction både…og that links two items (både kaffe og te). Why mixing them is the classic error.
- Negative Adverbs: aldri, heller ikke, ikke lengerB1 — Norwegian's negative adverbs — aldri (never), heller ikke (neither / not either), ikke lenger (no longer), and (ikke) ennå (not yet) — their placement and the English calques to avoid.
- Inversion: Fronting and Subject-Verb SwitchA1 — When any non-subject — a time word, an object, even a whole subordinate clause — is fronted into first position, V2 forces the subject to move behind the finite verb; English never does this, which makes it the signature learner error.