Spanish I: Conjunctions

Conjunctions

The easiest way to make a sentence more complex is by using conjunctions to join two words or even two phrases. You may remember “Schoolhouse Rocks” cartoons from your childhood. The “Conjunction Junction” function was “linking up nouns and clauses and phrases” using and, but, and or. These three English conjunctions are used to join parts of a sentence or even two sentences.

For example:

Jill and Brad are my neighbors.
Brad or Jill mows the lawn once a week.
Brad mows in the morning, but Jill prefers the evening.

The most basic Spanish conjunctions are:

y	and
pero	but
o	or

These three conjunctions are used the same as English conjunctions. Remember that if the conjunction y (and) is used to create a compound subject, the verb will be in a plural form. However, if the conjunction o (or) is used, the subject is considered singular and the verb will be in a singular form.

Estela y Coleta bailan tango.

Estela and Coleta dance the tango. (Notice that bailan is an ellos form of the verb.)

Miguelita o Marisol baila el flamenco hoy.

Miguelita or Marisol dances the flamenco today. (Notice that baila is the ella form of the verb.)

While y and o can be used to join nouns or sentences together, pero can only be used to join sentences together.

Juan baila pero Marco canta.
Juan dances but Marco sings.

There are a couple of irregularities with conjunctions. The conjunction o changes to u in front of words beginning with ho-, or o-. And, the conjunction y changes to e in front of any word beginning with hi- or i-.

For example: