"It is not either-or, it is both-and."
Translation:Det är inte antingen eller, det är både och.
21 Comments
I don't really understand this sentence. It is maybe because my native language is not English (it is French). Can anyone explain it to me please? I've only found religous related website, that's not really helping me actually. Thank you.
889
It means you do not have to choose between two things, you can have both.
When people speak about choosing between two things, they often use the expression antingen eller in Swedish, or either or in English. If you want to say that one must choose either one thing or another, you can say Det är antingen eller, in English 'It is either or'. This is sort of a compressed way of saying that this is a situation where this expression applies. And både och is the opposite of that, often said as just both in English.
There is also a discussion in the reverse sentence forum here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5568457 that might be helpful.
PS I hope this helps, if not, ask again!
I know you've had a reply but I just wanted to add my two cents! As a native English speaker, I think a good way to remember the difference between the phrases is that if you can only have either of two things, then you have the choice of this OR that. So "what can I have?" "Either-or". If you can have both of two things, you can choose this AND that. That makes "both-and" :-)
Don't worry! As a native English speaker I don't understand this sentence either! I mean, I get what it's trying to say, but it's not correct English
Doesn't "Heller" also mean "Either"? Could someone explain when Heller is used and when Antingen is used, thanks
- 889
They're always used in combinations:
antingen – eller = 'either – or'
varken – heller = 'neither – nor'
inte … heller = 'not … either'
inte ens = 'not even'
inte … utan = 'not … but'
(threw in a few more as a bonus since you've waited 6 months for an answer to this) :D
'Jag är inte en varg utan en man'? Is that correct?
Also, how does the pair 'not...either' work? I'm not a native English speaker so I can't really think of a natural sounding sentence for that pair in English (I'm not even sure if that pairing is grammatical).
- 889
Yes, that's correct.
'not … either' is used when you want to say something is not X, but it also isn't Y.
Han är inte gammal, men han är inte ung heller 'He isn't old, but he isn't young either'.
Examples from this course:
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/8422524
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5560524
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5993371
Of course I was hoping "heller- eller" would be "either- or" because it flows so well...
Thank You for making this clear and giving feedback... These expressions are extremely usefull! I just kept wondering, in your examples..., the hyphens or dashes you use here mean those words usually go together in swedish, as in the expression 'not even' inte ens in english, as far as I know... and unlike the words separated by dots... This topic has been pretty challenging to me! Thank you Again!
- 444
Shouldn't it also be correct to type Det är inte antingen eller, utan både och ??
utan would be a translation of "but" here, but there's no "but" in the English sentence.
That's actually accepted. It looks like you left an error report, though, for "det ar inte antingen-eller, det ar bade-och". This should have let you through with a typo warning (for the missing å and ä), so I don't know why it didn't.
For people who are learning English... "either or" is a normal English phrase, but "both and" isn't. So at least where I live (midwest United States), you would say "It is not either or, it is both." However, I like this translation into English because it helps me remember the Swedish, since it's a word-for-word translation.
Also, I wonder if my picky English teacher from 8th grade would say that the English sentence is a run-on sentence. I think she would make it: "It is not either-or; it is both."
