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Każdy utalentowany pracownik ma nie tylko pasję, ale i kompetencje.

Każdy utalentowany pracownik ma nie tylko pasję, ale i kompetencje.
Every talented employee has not only passion, but also competence.
From Lesson 444:Not only... but also (nie tylko ..., ale i ...)·Polish

Questions & Answers about Każdy utalentowany pracownik ma nie tylko pasję, ale i kompetencje.

The phrase ale i means "but also" here. Can I use ale także or ale też instead?
Yes, you can! The pairs nie tylko ..., ale i ..., nie tylko ..., ale także ..., and nie tylko ..., ale też ... are fully interchangeable. Using i instead of także or też is slightly more concise and flows very naturally in spoken and written Polish, but the meaning remains exactly the same.
Why is nie tylko placed right before pasję and not earlier in the sentence?
Correlative conjunctions like nie tylko ..., ale i ... need to be placed directly before the parallel elements they are connecting. Because this sentence links the two nouns pasję and kompetencje, the conjunctions sit right next to them. If you placed nie tylko earlier (for example, before the verb ma), you would need to introduce a parallel verb in the second half of the sentence.
Why is kompetencje in the plural, when the English translation says "competence" in the singular?
In Polish business and professional contexts, kompetencje (the plural of kompetencja) is almost always used to refer to a person's skillset, qualifications, or abilities. While English often uses "competence" as an uncountable singular noun, Polish treats these as individual, countable skills that an employee possesses. Note that both pasję and kompetencje are in the accusative case here because they are the direct objects of the verb ma.
Could I use wszyscy utalentowani pracownicy instead of każdy utalentowany pracownik?
Yes, the overall meaning would be nearly identical (translating to "All talented employees" rather than "Every talented employee"). Just remember that każdy strictly requires a singular noun and verb (pracownik ma), whereas wszyscy requires the plural (pracownicy mają). Using każdy emphasizes the individual employee, which sounds slightly more impactful in this kind of statement.

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