Breakdown of Niet alleen sport ik, maar ik ontspan ook door mijn smartphone te negeren.
ik
I
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
maar
but
Questions & Answers about Niet alleen sport ik, maar ik ontspan ook door mijn smartphone te negeren.
How does the phrase door mijn smartphone te negeren work?
It uses the structure door ... te + infinitive, which translates to 'by doing something'. The object (mijn smartphone) comes right after door, and the verb (negeren) is placed at the very end of the clause with te in front of it.
Why is it sport ik instead of ik sport?
Putting the phrase Niet alleen (Not only) at the beginning of the sentence pushes the subject (ik) after the verb (sport). This is a standard rule in Dutch: if a sentence starts with something other than the subject, the subject and verb swap places (inversion).
Why doesn't the word order change after maar?
The word maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction. This means it simply links two independent sentences without affecting the word order of the second one. That is why it goes back to the normal subject-verb order: ik ontspan.
Is sport a verb in this sentence?
Yes! In English, 'sport' is usually a noun, but Dutch uses sporten as a regular verb meaning 'to play sports' or 'to work out'. Here, sport ik essentially means 'I sport'.