както..., така и

Both ... and in Formal Style

Level 5Sounds Like kakto..., taka i

Както студенти, така и преподаватели means both students and teachers. Put a comma before така и.

How It Works

1. The pattern. Както goes before the first item and така и before the second. A comma separates the two parts:

  • Книгата е интересна както за деца, така и за възрастни. (The book is interesting for both children and adults.)

2. Keep the parts parallel. Both items must be the same kind of word or phrase. When the two items have the same relation, repeat its preposition; different relations may need different prepositions: както в София, така и в Пловдив.

3. Agreement. When the pair is the subject, the verb is normally plural: На срещата присъстваха както студенти, така и преподаватели (Both students and teachers attended the meeting).

4. Register. This pair is typical of written, official and academic Bulgarian. In everyday speech people usually say и ... и or хем ... хем. To stress that the second item is surprising, use не само ..., но и instead.

5. Punctuation. Bulgarian punctuation treats както – така и as a double conjunction: no comma goes before както, and a comma is written before така и.

Do not confuse this pair with както on its own, which means as or the way: Направи го, както искаш (Do it as you like).

Examples (5)

  1. Книгата е интересна както за деца, така и за възрастни.

    The book is interesting for both children and adults.

  2. На срещата присъстваха както студенти, така и преподаватели.

    Both students and teachers attended the meeting.

    The verb is plural because the pair is the subject.

  3. Той говори както английски, така и немски.

    He speaks both English and German.

  4. Може да платите както в брой, така и с карта.

    You can pay both in cash and by card.

  5. Промените засягат както големите, така и малките фирми.

    The changes affect both large and small companies.

Common Mistakes

  • Dropping и after така.

    Музеят е интересен както за деца, така за възрастни.
    Музеят е интересен както за деца, така и за възрастни.

    The second part is always така и. Without и, the pair is incomplete.

  • Leaving out the comma before така и.

    Той говори както английски така и немски.
    Той говори както английски, така и немски.

    Както – така и is a double conjunction, and Bulgarian punctuation puts a comma before its second part.

  • Making the two parts unequal.

    Работим както в София, така и Пловдив.
    Работим както в София, така и в Пловдив.

    Both places have the same in-place relation, so use в with each. Other parallel phrases can use different prepositions when their meanings require them.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

както..., така иLevel 5Both ... and in Formal Style

Learn This First

Formal both ... and follows not only ... but also.

Words in This Pattern

кактотака