Breakdown of Dobra gleba daje roślinom nie tylko wodę, lecz także tlen.
dobry
good
woda
water
roślina
plant
dawać
to give (imperfective)
nie tylko
not only (nie tylko..., ale także...)
także
also, too (written; a także = as well as)
lecz
but
gleba
the soil
tlen
the oxygen
Questions & Answers about Dobra gleba daje roślinom nie tylko wodę, lecz także tlen.
How rigid is the pairing of nie tylko and lecz także? Can I use ale instead of lecz?
Do the nouns following nie tylko and lecz także always share the same case?
Yes, almost always. The conjunction connects two parallel ideas that share the exact same grammatical role in the sentence. Here, both wodę and tlen are direct objects being "given" by the soil, so they must both be in the accusative case as demanded by the verb daje.
Why is it roślinom here instead of the basic plural rośliny?
Roślinom is the dative plural form of roślina (plant). The verb dawać (to give) requires the dative case for the receiver, or the indirect object. The soil is giving water and oxygen to the plants.
Since wodę and tlen are both in the accusative case here, why does only wodę change its ending from the dictionary form?
Woda is a feminine noun, which always changes its -a ending to -ę in the accusative case. Tlen is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form looks identical to the basic nominative dictionary form, so it stays as tlen.
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