41 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
41 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Two-Part Conjunctions"
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description: "German correlative conjunctions — entweder/oder, weder/noch, sowohl/als auch, je/desto, and zwar/aber — with examples and English equivalents."
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source: "https://germanforenglishspeakers.com/other/two-part-conjunctions"
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crawled: "2026-06-30"
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---
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# Two-Part Conjunctions
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Most two-part conjunctions in German have direct English equivalents, so it's faster to learn them by example than to break them down grammatically. The easiest are either/or and neither/nor:
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_Wir können **entweder** ins Kino **oder** ins Restaurant gehen._
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We can either go to the cinema or to the restaurant.
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_Sie isst **weder** Fisch **noch** Fleisch._
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She eats neither fish nor meat.
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(Also, if someone offers you two options and you want to reject both, you can just say _weder noch_ to mean "neither one.")
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_Sowohl_ literally translates to "as well (as)" and is usually combined with _als auch_ or _wie_ to indicate that two things are both true. The sentence structure is a little different from English, though. We put "as well as" or "and" in between the two items, but _sowohl_ goes before them. The nearest English equivalent in terms of sentence structure is "both/and":
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_Dieses Gerät spart **sowohl** Zeit **als auch** Geld._
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This appliance saves **both** time **and** money.
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OR: This appliance saves time **as well as** money.
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_**sowohl** im Inland **wie auch** im Ausland_
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**both** at home **and** abroad
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OR: at home **as well as** abroad.
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_Je/desto_ expresses a relationship between two [comparative](/adjectives/comparative-and-superlative-forms.md "2. Comparative & Superlative Forms") adjectives:
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_**Je mehr** du redest, **desto dümmer** klingst du._
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**The more** you talk, **the dumber** you sound.
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_Zwar_ usually translates to "indeed" or "granted" or "it's true." It's frequently used with _aber_ ("but") to partially concede an argument or fact but still maintain an opposing position:
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_Er mochte sie **zwar**, wollte sie **aber** nicht heiraten._
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While he certainly liked her, he did not want to marry her.
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[Continue to next section >>](/other/modal-particles.md)
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