Breakdown of Das Personal ist nicht nur hervorragend, sondern auch freundlich.
sein
to be
freundlich
friendly
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
nicht nur ..., sondern auch
not only ... but also
hervorragend
excellent
das Personal
the staff
Questions & Answers about Das Personal ist nicht nur hervorragend, sondern auch freundlich.
Do I always need a comma before sondern auch?
Yes! In German, you must always place a comma before the conjunction sondern. This rule applies even when it is part of the two-part phrase nicht nur ..., sondern auch (not only ..., but also).
Why does the sentence use the singular verb ist for das Personal? Doesn't "staff" refer to multiple people?
In German, das Personal is a collective noun that is always strictly singular. While in English you might hear "the staff are friendly," in German you must treat it as a single unit: Das Personal ist ....
I learned that "but" translates to aber. Why do we use sondern here?
You use sondern instead of aber whenever you are contradicting or correcting a negative statement. Because the first half of this sentence contains the negative word nicht, you have to use sondern for "but". The phrase nicht nur ..., sondern auch is a fixed pair that always goes together.
The word hervorragend ends in "-end". Is it related to a verb?
Exactly! It is the present participle (the equivalent of an "-ing" word in English) of the separable verb hervorragen, which literally means "to stand out". When used as an adjective, it means "outstanding" or "excellent".
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