Paired connectors: zowel ... als, niet alleen ... maar ook, noch ... noch

Paired connectors put two matching parts of a sentence on the same level. In De cursus behandelt zowel spreken als schrijven (The course covers both speaking and writing), zowel marks the first skill and als marks the second.

Choose the pair that expresses your relation, put one marker before each member, and make the two members do the same job in the sentence.

1. Choose the relation: addition, negative addition, an alternative, or a contrast.
2. Place the first marker before the first member and the second marker before the matching second member: zowel [spreken] als [schrijven].
3. Check each member on its own. Both must fit in the same sentence slot and carry the same kind of meaning.
4. Repeat shared words when that makes the two shapes easier to read. You may contract genuinely identical material when the missing words are clear.

Parallel members have the same function. Zowel in Amsterdam als in Utrecht joins two place phrases. Zowel zorgvuldig als snel joins two adverbs. A pair becomes hard to read when its two markers introduce different sentence jobs.

A pair may contain more than two members. Repeat als when each item deserves equal weight: zowel lezen als luisteren als schrijven. A comma before the last als, or en before the last item, is also possible, but it can group the final items together.

Noch ... noch already negates every member. Ik gebruik noch de app noch de website means that I use neither one, so a final niet would add a second negation instead of completing the pair. The construction occurs mainly in writing. The expanded form niet ... en ook niet expresses the two negatives without noch.

• Use zowel ... als when both facts count equally: De regeling geldt zowel voor huurders als voor verhuurders. (The rule applies to both tenants and landlords.)
• Use niet alleen ... maar ook when the second point adds new or stronger information: De cursus vraagt niet alleen tijd, maar ook dagelijkse oefening. (The course requires not only time but also daily practice.)
• Use noch ... noch for a compact written negative pair. Use of ... of or ofwel ... ofwel when the reader must choose between alternatives.
• Use hetzij ... hetzij in formal documents and weliswaar ... maar when you accept the first point before limiting it with the second.

When a non-subject member beginning with niet alleen takes first position, ordinary main-clause word order still applies: Niet alleen op maandag werkt Sara thuis, maar ook op vrijdag. Review fronting and inversion for that word-order pattern.

• Keep the markers attached to matching members. In zowel voor nieuwe als voor ervaren medewerkers, each marker introduces a full voor-phrase.
• Use one negative system. Write Ik heb noch gebeld noch gemaild or neutral Ik heb niet gebeld en ook niet gemaild, rather than adding niet to a complete noch ... noch pair.
• Do not choose the verb form from this page when the pair is the subject. The number of that verb belongs to agreement with coordinated subjects.

Review ordinary coordinating conjunctions, fronting and inversion, the choice between niet and geen, and main-clause structure. For verb number after a paired subject, use agreement with coordinated subjects.