Breakdown of Hij speelt niet alleen viool, maar hij zingt ook goed.
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
maar
but
spelen
to play
goed
good
zingen
to sing
alleen
alone; only
de viool
the violin
Questions & Answers about Hij speelt niet alleen viool, maar hij zingt ook goed.
English speakers say "He not only plays". Why does Dutch put niet alleen after speelt?
In a standard Dutch main clause, the conjugated verb must always sit in the second position. Because the subject Hij takes the first spot, the verb speelt has to come next. Therefore, niet alleen gets pushed after the verb.
Does maar change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, it doesn't. maar is a coordinating conjunction, which is a grammar term for a word that just glues two independent sentences together without messing with their internal word order. That is why the second half starts normally with Subject-Verb: hij zingt.
Could I put ook right next to maar, like "... maar ook hij zingt goed"?
No, that would sound unnatural. In the niet alleen ... maar (ook) structure, ook acts as an adverb inside the second clause. It needs to follow the conjugated verb (zingt) rather than sticking directly to maar.
Why is there no article like "de" before viool?
When talking about playing a musical instrument in a general sense, Dutch leaves out the article. You just say viool spelen (to play violin) or piano spelen (to play piano), similar to how English handles playing sports ("to play tennis").
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