Breakdown of Der Service ist nicht nur schnell, sondern auch hervorragend.
sein
to be
schnell
fast, quickly
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
nicht nur ..., sondern auch
not only ... but also
Questions & Answers about Der Service ist nicht nur schnell, sondern auch hervorragend.
Do I always need a comma before sondern auch in sentences like this?
Yes! In German, you always put a comma before the second half of this pair. This is because sondern is a coordinating conjunction that introduces a contrast or correction, and those always require a comma in German (just like aber).
I previously learned that sondern means 'but rather' after a negative sentence. Is that what is happening here?
Exactly! You use sondern when you want to correct or expand on a negative statement. Here, nicht nur tells us that 'fast' isn't the whole story. The word sondern then introduces the rest of the truth. Together with auch, it creates the fixed expression meaning 'not only... but also'.
Could I say sondern ist auch hervorragend instead?
You don't need to, and it sounds less natural here. Because nicht nur ... sondern auch connects two identical grammatical elements in this sentence (the two adjectives schnell and hervorragend), you don't need to repeat the verb ist. The single verb applies to both adjectives perfectly.
The word hervorragend looks a bit like a verb. Where does it come from?
Good catch! It is the present participle (the German equivalent of an '-ing' word) of the separable verb hervorragen, which means 'to stand out'. So, a service that is hervorragend literally means it is 'standing out' or 'outstanding'.