German  Conjunctions    Conjunctions   are   words   that   link   two   or  more   words,   clauses,   phrases   or  sentences.   In  German,   they  belong   to   the  group  of  non-­‐declinable  words.  However,  in   German   you   will   often   find   several  posibilities   to  choose   from  to  denote  one  single   English   conjunction.   Such   is   the  case  with  aber  and  sondern.  For  instance,  consider   the   following   sentences   in  English:      The   child  didn't  want   to   go  home,   but   to  the  park.    She   is   exhausted,   but   doesn't  want   to   go  to  sleep.    They  would  be  translated  as  follows:    

Das   Kind   will   nicht   nach   Hause   gehen,  sondern  zum  Park.  Sie   ist   erschöpft,   aber  will   nicht   schlafen  gehen.    As   you   can   see,   both   aber   and   sondern  mean   but   in   English.   How   do   you   know  which   "but"   conjunction   to   use?   It   is  actually  quite  simple:    Aber,   which   means   but,   however,  nevertheless   is   used   after   either   a  positive  or  negatice  clause.    On   the   other   hand,   sondern   is   only   used  after  a  negative  clause  when  expressing  a  contradiction.   In   other   words,   the   first  clause  of  the  sentence  must  contain  either  nicht   or   kein,   and   the   second  part   of   the  sentence  must  contradict   the   first  part  of  the   sentence.   Sondern   can   be   translated  as   but,   on   the   contrary,   instead,   but  rather.  Below  is  the  list  of  conjunctions.    

• als  -­‐  as    • bevor  -­‐  before    • bis  -­‐  until    • da  -­‐  since    • damit  -­‐  in  order  that    • dass  -­‐  that    • ehe  -­‐  ere    • falls  -­‐  in  case    • indem  -­‐  while    • nachdem  -­‐  after    • ob  -­‐  whether    • obgleich  -­‐  although    • obschon  -­‐  although    • obwohl  -­‐  although    • seit  -­‐  since    • sodass  -­‐  so  that    • solang  -­‐  so  long  as    • trotzdem  -­‐  in  spite  the  fact    • weil  -­‐  because    • wenn  -­‐  whenever    • während  -­‐  whereas