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Coordinating Conjunctions
SPANISH
In English the words and and or
or two common conjunctions. Each of these has two translations
in Spanish.
y is the common translation for 'and': use e
if the next word starts with 'i'.
o is the common translation for 'or': use u
if the next word starts with 'o'.
The English conjunction 'but' can be translated pero
or sino.
pero is a more general translation of 'but', and
should be appropiate unless the situation calls for sino.
sino is needed if the sentence begins with one idea,
and then the 'but' shifts the focus to a diametric opposite.
- You said the coffee is hot, but it is cold.
- They don't want peace, but war.
In some cases, you may deal with two things that are not normally
thought of as diametric opposites, but for your purposes, they are.
In this case, your use of the conjunction sino
alerts the reader that something is different.
As an example, Borges equated the color red with life, and
the color grey with death. He writes:
- No es gris, sino rojo.
- It is not grey, but red.