Breakdown of Viele Leute glauben, die Besetzung ist nicht nur gut, sondern auch sehr überzeugend.
sein
to be
sehr
very
gut
good / well
die Leute
the people
viel
much / a lot
glauben
to believe
nicht nur ..., sondern auch
not only ... but also
die Besetzung
the cast
überzeugend
convincing
Questions & Answers about Viele Leute glauben, die Besetzung ist nicht nur gut, sondern auch sehr überzeugend.
Why is the verb ist in the second position after the comma instead of at the end?
This sentence drops the word dass (that). After verbs of thinking or saying like glauben, you can omit dass. When you drop it, the subordinate clause acts like a regular main clause, meaning the verb ist takes the normal Verb-Second position instead of being pushed to the very end. If we kept dass, it would be: Viele Leute glauben, dass die Besetzung nicht nur gut ist.
Why do we use sondern auch here instead of aber auch?
The phrase nicht nur ... sondern auch is a fixed, two-part connector that translates exactly to 'not only ... but also'. You always use sondern rather than aber when you are providing an alternative or addition to a phrase that contains a negative word like nicht.
I've seen Besetzung used to mean a military occupation. How do I know it means 'cast' here?
Besetzung has a few distinct meanings, including military occupation, staffing a vacant job, or the cast of a film or play. At a B2 level, relying on context clues is essential. The description of it being gut and überzeugend (convincing) points directly to a performance, meaning 'cast' is the only logical choice.
How does the word überzeugend work grammatically?
It functions as an adjective meaning 'convincing', but it is built using the present participle of the verb überzeugen (to convince). Just like adding '-ing' to a verb in English, you form this in German by adding a -d to the infinitive form of the verb.
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