Noch Jan noch Piet heeft vanavond gebeld. |
Neither Jan nor Piet has phoned tonight. |
Noch ... noch ... is considered to be quite formal. In speech you will often hear one of the options below:
Piet en Jan hebben geen van beiden gebeld. |
The first noch can be left out without changing the meaning.
Jan noch Piet heeft vanavond gebeld. |
Neither Jan nor Piet has phoned tonight. |
The absence of the first noch is obvious in the well-known saying:
Ik ken hier heg noch steg. |
Literally: I know neither hedge nor path here; |
With the noch ... noch ... construction the verb occurs in principle in the singular. However, if one of the subjects is in the plural, the verb will have to be in the plural too.
Noch mijn vriend noch zijn ouders hebben gestudeerd. |
Neither my (boy)friend nor his parents have gone to university. |
If both subjects are of a different person (e.g. the first person singualr and the third person singular) , the verb is in the plural:
Noch mijn broer noch ik komen naar het feestje. |
Neither my brother nor I will come to the party. |