Conjunctions

Short, individual sentences can sound uninteresting in both writing and speech. To make
language more appealing and flow more smoothly, use conjunctions to combine sentences.

A. Coordinating Conjunctions
The most commonly used coordinating conjunctions in German are aber, oder, und, denn, and
sondern (but, or, and, because, but rather). A coordinating conjunction combines two independent
clauses, each of which can stand alone and make sense. When a coordinating conjunction combines
two independent clauses, normal word order takes place, which means that the verb is the second
element in each of the two clauses. For example:

1. aber = but
(Jochen lives in Bonn, but his sister lives in Vienna.)

Hauptsatz (substantive clause) Hauptsatz (substantive clause)

Jochen wohnt in Bonn, aber seine Schwester wohnt in Wien.

Subject Verb Adv. Place C. Conj. Subject Verb Adv. Place
Position 1 2 3 position 0 1 2 3
*when using “aber” don’t forget to use a comma before the conjunction.

2. oder = or
(On Monday I will visit my grandmother or my cousin.)

Am Montag besuche ich meine meine Oma oder ich besuche meine Kusine.
Am Montag besuche ich meine Oma oder meine Kusine.

Hauptsatz (substantive clause) Satzelement (Part of a sentence)

Am Montag besuche ich meineOma oder meine Kusine.

Adv. Time Verb Subject D. Object C. Conj. D. Object

* Since the subjects and verbs in the two independent clauses of this example are identical, it is possible
to shorten the sentence and omit the subject and verb from the second clause

3. und = and
(Michael is playing the piano, and Tanja is listening to the radio.)

Michael spielt Klavier und Tanja hört Radio.

Ich esse eine Pizza und ich (ich) trinke eine Cola.
*When the subject of the first clause is identical to the subject of the second clause, it is possible to
omit the second subject and sometimes even the verb.

(Father can’t sleep and is working in the kitchen.)

Vater kann nicht schlafen und arbeitet in der Küche.
 4. denn = because/ since / for
*used as conjunction when you are giving the reason for something.

(I am learning German, because I want to work in Germany.)

Ich lerne Deutsch, denn ich will in Deutschland arbeiten.

(Erik isn’t going to the movies, because he doesn’t have any money.)
Erik geht nicht ins Kino, denn er hat kein Geld.

*use a comma before the conjunction “denn”

*even the subjects in both sentences are the same, we won’t remove the subject in the second
sentence, this is because the second sentence is giving us a reason.

5. sondern = but/ but rather

(She doesn’t live in Heidelberg, but rather she lives in Darmstadt.)

Sie wohnt nicht in Heidelberg, sondern sie wohnt in Darmstadt.

Sie wohnt nicht in Heidelberg, sondern sie wohnt in Darmstadt.

Das ist kein Buch, sondern eine Schokolade.

*Joining 2 Hauptsätze, when the first Hauptsatz is negative (that means there is a word like nicht or
kein) in such a case we would to use the conjunction sondern.

* Since the subjects and verbs in the two independent clauses of this example are identical, it is possible
to shorten the sentence and omit the subject and verb from the second clause.
*do remember that first sentence with sondern is always negative.
* use comma before the conjunction “sondern”.
*The difference between the words “sondern” and “aber” is that you use “sondern” where you’d use
“but rather” (meaning: instead) in English.

*Questions are the only exception to the rule: with coordinating conjunctions, the verb is the second
element in each of the combined clauses.
Fahrt ihr mit dem Zug, oder fliegt ihr nach Paris?
(Are you traveling by train, or are you flying to Paris?)

“Denn” vs. “weil”: both words explain a causality and provide a reason, but there is one significant
difference between them — they require a different word order. A “denn”-clause can never be at the
beginning of a sentence. If you want to start a sentence explaining a reason you have to use “weil”.