Spanish Translation of Conjunctions I

Spanish conjunctions, like English conjunctions, are words that serve the function of joining words, phrases, clauses and ideas. Spanish conjunctions, like English conjunctions, are of three kinds: coordinate conjunctions, subordinate conjunctions and correlative conjunctions.

Coordinate conjunctions join words, phrases and clauses of the same kind. Some of the common English coordinate conjunctions and their Spanish translation are as follows: or/o, nor/ni, and/y, but/pero, but/sino. While working on a Spanish translation, translators must pay special attention to the conjunction ‘y´ — that is because ‘y´ becomes ‘e´ before Spanish words that begin with ‘i´ or ‘hi´. For example, ‘Fernando e Isabel´ and not ‘Fernando y Isabel´.

However, the translator must also remember that if the Spanish word begins with an ‘h´ that is followed by the diphthong ‘ie´, then the ‘y´ does not change into ‘e´. For example, ‘cobre y hierro´ and not ‘cobre e hierro´. The conjunction ‘o´ also deserves equal attention during Spanish translation because ‘o´ becomes ‘u´ before Spanish words that begin with ‘o´ or ‘ho´. For example, ‘palabras u oraciones, ‘mujeres u hombres´, etc.

The Spanish translation for the English conjunction ‘but´ is both ‘sino´ and ‘pero´, but they are not interchangeable. ‘pero´ is used to connect two complete ideas that are in accordance with each other. ‘sino´ is used to connect two complete ideas that contradict each other. Hence, ‘He is very old but he remembers it all´ will be translated into Spanish with the help of ‘pero´ as in ‘Es muy viejo pero lo recuerda todo´. On the other hand, ‘The Sleep of Reason is not a drama by Sastre but by Buero Vallejo´ will be translated into Spanish with the help of ‘sino´ as in ‘El sueño de la razón no es un drama de Sastre sino de Buero Vallejo´.