Breakdown of Ze slaan elkaar niet alleen op de kin, maar ook op de heup.
ook
also / -ever (concessive particle)
niet
not
maar
but
op
on
ze
they; she (unstressed form of zij) / them (object)
alleen
alone; only
elkaar
each other
slaan
to hit
de kin
the chin
de heup
the hip
Questions & Answers about Ze slaan elkaar niet alleen op de kin, maar ook op de heup.
Why does this sentence use de kin and de heup instead of elkaars kin and elkaars heup?
This is the possessive shift at work! For actions involving physical contact with a body part, Dutch prefers to make the person the object of the verb (elkaar) and use a definite article for the body part (de kin, de heup) instead of using a possessive pronoun.
Since 'they' refers to multiple people, shouldn't the body parts be plural (de kinnen and de heupen)?
Not necessarily. Dutch often keeps body parts singular when describing an action where each person is affected on just one of that specific body part. Saying de kinnen might playfully imply that each person has multiple chins being hit!
Could I still say 'Ze slaan niet alleen op elkaars kin' to mean the same thing?
Grammatically, you can use the possessive elkaars, but Ze slaan elkaar op de kin is the much more natural and idiomatic way to describe physical contact directed at bodies in Dutch.
Does the niet alleen ..., maar ook ... structure change the word order here?
No, it doesn't. Maar is a standard coordinating conjunction (like en or of). Because it is simply connecting two prepositional phrases (op de kin and op de heup), it doesn't force any verb inversion or change the underlying word order.
Learn Ze slaan elkaar niet alleen op de kin, maar ook op de heup and more in Dutch
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free