In this second post on conjunctions, we’ll look at ones which are very similar to the ones we learned in the first post.
I was going to make these two posts one big post but felt it would be too much.
Also, since the first post was pretty in-depth to allow clear distinction between tricky conjunctions, you deserve an easier post now.
We have four conjunctions here and using them will definitely add some zest to your Russian.
| ни… ни… [neither… nor…] |
A comma is required after the initial ни.
Don’t forget that you need to negate the verb in the sentence. In Russian the more negation in a sentence, the better.
| Он не пьёт ни водку, ни виски. He drinks neither vodka nor whisky. Lit: He doesn’t drink neither vodka, nor whisky. |
| Ни мне, ни тебе не нравится рано вставать. Neither you nor I like getting up early. |
Although you normally see the phrase like above, you can add on to it, for example:
| Он не пьёт ни водку, ни виски, ни шампанское, ни ром… He drinks neither vodka, nor whisky, nor champagne, nor rum… |
For verbs (without objects), don’t use не. Observe:
| Он вполне здоров. Он ни пьёт, ни курит. He’s completely healthy. He neither drinks, nor smokes. |
| или… или… [either… or…] |
A comma is required after the initial или.
| Я сделаю покупки или сегодня, или завтра. I’ll do the shopping either today or tomorrow. |
| и… и… [both… and…] |
No comma is required here.
| Я и молод и умён. I’m both young and smart. |
| не только… но и… [not only… but also…] |
A comma is required before но и.
| Мы будем работать не только завтра, но и послезавтра. We’ll work not only tomorrow, but also the day after tomorrow. |
And that’s all for today! Wasn’t this post pretty easy? I’m sure it was.
I’m also sure you found it interesting how you could compose these interesting conjunctions from the one’s we learned in our previous post on this grammar topic.
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