לא רק שהתרגול היה קצר, אלא שהוא גם היה מעניין מאוד.

Not only was the practice short, but it was also very interesting.

Breakdown of לא רק שהתרגול היה קצר, אלא שהוא גם היה מעניין מאוד.

• לא: not
• להיות: to be
• גם: also
• רק: only

Questions & Answers about לא רק שהתרגול היה קצר, אלא שהוא גם היה מעניין מאוד.

What does the whole pattern לא רק ... אלא שהוא גם ... mean?

It means not only ..., but also ....

In this sentence:

• לא רק = not only
• אלא = the connector used in this structure, roughly but rather / but
• גם = also

So the sentence is saying the exercise had two positive qualities:

1. it was short
2. it was also very interesting

Why is there a ש־ after לא רק?

Because לא רק is followed by a full clause.

• שהתרגול היה קצר literally means that the exercise was short
• In English, we often leave out that
• In Hebrew, after לא רק, using ש־ before a full clause is very normal

So לא רק שהתרגול היה קצר is literally something like not only that the exercise was short..., but in natural English we simply say not only was the exercise short...

Why do we use אלא here instead of אבל?