nego / već

Correcting an Alternative

Level 6

After a negative expression, nego or već can introduce what is true instead. This corrective use differs from comparative nego and from već meaning “already.”

How It Works

Keep the alternatives parallel: Ne pijem kavu, nego čaj. The correction replaces the drink. In Nismo otišli, već smo ostali kod kuće, it replaces a whole event.

Corrective clauses or phrases normally take a comma before nego or već. Compare the integrated comparison više čaja nego kave, which does not reject the first item and normally has no comma.

The additive pair ne samo… nego i includes both alternatives: Govori ne samo hrvatski nego i talijanski. It is not ordinary negation of the first language. Read the complete construction before deciding whether the second item replaces or adds to the first.

Examples (3)

  1. Nije došao Marko, nego Ivan.

    It was Ivan who came, not Marko.

  2. Ne pijem kavu, nego čaj.

    I drink tea, not coffee.

  3. Nismo otišli, već smo ostali kod kuće.

    We did not leave; instead, we stayed at home.

How It Connects

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

nego / većLevel 6Correcting an Alternative

Learn This First

Recognize coordinated alternatives before replacing a rejected alternative. Understand ordinary clause negation before contrasting negation of one constituent with replacement by another.

Words in This Pattern