Breakdown of Kumpikaan näyttelijä ei esitä ainoastaan komediaa, vaan myös draamaa.
myös
also
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
näyttelijä
the actor
kumpikaan
neither one
vaan
but rather (after a negative)
komedia
comedy
draama
drama
esittää
to perform / to present (something)
ainoastaan
only (solely, exclusively)
Questions & Answers about Kumpikaan näyttelijä ei esitä ainoastaan komediaa, vaan myös draamaa.
How does the 'ei ainoastaan ... vaan myös' structure work here when the sentence starts with the negative subject 'kumpikaan'?
The negative verb ei does double duty here. It is required by the negative pronoun kumpikaan (since Finnish uses double negation for words like 'neither') and simultaneously serves as the ei in the ei ainoastaan (not only) structure.
Why is ainoastaan placed after the verb esitä rather than right next to ei?
The structure ei ... ainoastaan frames the specific things being contrasted. By placing ainoastaan right before komediaa, it directly contrasts the object komediaa with draamaa. If we put it before the verb (ei ainoastaan esitä komediaa), it would sound like the actor not only performs comedy, but also does some other action to it (like writing or directing it).
Why is the noun näyttelijä in the singular even though we are referring to two actors?
The pronoun kumpikaan (neither of the two) always pairs with a singular noun in Finnish, exactly as 'neither' does in English. Consequently, the verb is also in the singular form (esitä, not esittävät).
Why are both komediaa and draamaa in the partitive case?
They are the direct objects of esittää (to perform). Acting out a genre is an unbounded, continuous activity, which requires the partitive case. Because the conjunction vaan myös links parallel elements, draamaa simply copies the grammatical case of komediaa.
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