Breakdown of Она не только красивая, но и умная.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
красивый
beautiful
умный
clever, intelligent
не только ..., но и
not only ... but also
Questions & Answers about Она не только красивая, но и умная.
How does the double conjunction не только ..., но и ... work in this sentence?
It translates to "not only ... but also ...". Similar to the conjunctions taught in this lesson like и ... и (both ... and), it links two equal parts of a sentence. Here, it pairs the adjectives красивая and умная to emphasize that she possesses both qualities.
Why is there a comma before но и?
In Russian, you must always put a comma before words like но (but) or а (and/but). Because this double conjunction is built around но, a comma is always required to separate the first part (не только красивая) from the second part (но и умная).
Why are the adjectives красивая and умная in the nominative case?
They describe the subject, Она (She). Because Russian drops the verb "to be" in the present tense, these adjectives act as the core description of the subject. When long-form adjectives are used like this, they simply stay in the nominative case matching the subject.
Could we use the short-form adjectives (красива, умна) here instead?
Yes, you could absolutely say Она не только красива, но и умна. Using the short form makes the sentence sound slightly more formal or literary, whereas the long forms used here (красивая, умная) are the standard choice for everyday conversation.
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