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Grammar notes
Correlative connectors come in two halves that always appear together. In every example below, the first half is already in the sentence — your job is to supply the second half.
| Pair | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| entweder ... oder | Two alternatives ("either ... or") | Entweder gehen wir ins Kino, oder wir bleiben zu Hause. |
| weder ... noch | Ruling out both options ("neither ... nor") | Er hat weder Zeit noch Lust, mitzukommen. |
| sowohl ... als auch | Both things being true ("both ... and") | Sie spricht sowohl Deutsch als auch Englisch. |
| nicht nur ... sondern auch | Adding a second, often stronger point ("not only ... but also") | Er ist nicht nur klug, sondern auch fleißig. |
| je ... desto/umso | A comparison that scales together ("the more ... the more") | Je mehr ich übe, desto besser werde ich. |
Two more connectors are two-word subordinating phrases rather than true pairs — they behave exactly like weil or obwohl (verb to the end of their own clause), just with a compound conjunction:
| Phrase | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ohne dass | Something happening without an expected accompanying action ("without X happening") | Die Kinder spielten im Garten, ohne dass die Eltern es wussten. |
| anstatt dass | Something happening in place of another expected action ("instead of X happening") | Er sah fern, anstatt dass er seine Hausaufgaben machte. |
For je ... desto/umso, either desto or umso is correct — they're interchangeable, and the je-clause is verb-final while the desto/umso-clause starts with the comparative and inverts to verb-subject order.
Entweder...Oder, Weder...Noch & More: Two-Part Connectors
How many words this round?
28 words available · each round is a random pick, so replaying covers different ones.