Breakdown of Niet alleen de prijs is exclusief, maar ook de service.
zijn
to be
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
maar
but
alleen
alone; only
de prijs
the price
de service
the service
exclusief
exclusive
Questions & Answers about Niet alleen de prijs is exclusief, maar ook de service.
Why doesn't maar cause the verb to jump in front of the subject, unlike the connectors we are learning in this lesson?
Maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction, just like en (and) or of (or). It simply links two clauses together and sits in 'position zero', meaning it doesn't count towards the word order of the sentence that follows it. Adverbial connectors like bovendien or daarnaast, however, take up the first position and force the verb to come before the subject (V2 inversion).
Is niet alleen ... maar ook a fixed combination?
Yes, it is a paired conjunction that translates exactly to 'not only ... but also'. It is a very common way to add emphasis when connecting two things, serving as a great alternative to using words like bovendien (moreover) or verder (furthermore).
If niet alleen is at the beginning of the sentence, why isn't there verb inversion (Niet alleen is de prijs...)?
In this specific sentence, niet alleen isn't acting as an independent adverb; it directly modifies de prijs. The entire phrase Niet alleen de prijs (Not only the price) acts as one single block in position one. Therefore, the verb is takes its normal place right after it in position two.
Is it grammatically okay to leave the verb out at the end of the sentence like this?
Yes! Just like in English, you can drop the verb and the adjective in the second half if they are exactly the same as in the first half. You could technically say ...maar ook de service is exclusief, but leaving those repeated words out sounds much more natural.
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