A conjunction is a word used to link or conjoin words or phrases into a coherent whole. There are two classes of conjunctions: coordinate and subordinate.
Coordinating Conjunctions
A coordinating conjunction coordinates two equivalent elements in a sentence, that is, words belonging to the same grammatical category (nouns + nouns, verbs + verbs, independent clause + independent clause, etc.). The most commonly used coordinating conjunctions in Spanish are:
| pero | but |
| o | or |
| y | and |
| entonces | so, thus |
| ni … ni | neither … nor |
| pues | then |
Le fui y le dije a mi papá que yo quería seguir estudiando y, entonces, él me dijo que no.
I went and told my dad that I wanted to keep studying and then he told me no.
No hablan palabras exactas ni inglés ni español.
They don’t use exact words neither English nor Spanish.
Subordinating Conjunctions
A subordinating conjunction links an independent clause to a dependent clause. In other words, a subordinating conjunction joins two unequivalent clauses (independent and dependent). An independent clause is any clause that can stand alone to form a grammatical sentence. A dependent clause, on the other hand, cannot stand alone and thus depends on the main clause in order to form a complete thought.
The several commonly used subordinate conjunctions are:
| que | that |
| mientras | as, while |
| cuando | when |
| donde | where |
| desde que | since (indicating time) |
| mientras que | while, whereas |
| como | since |
| porque | because |
| apenas | as soon as |
Uno aprende a ser padre o madre, mientras uno va caminando.
One learns to be a dad or mom as one goes.
Apenas veo que alguien está más a gusto a hablar en español, cuando estoy en el trabajo, es lo que hablo.
As soon as I see that someone is more comfortable speaking in Spanish, when I am at my job, that’s what I speak.
