Pero vs sino: the one question, the chart, the quiz

Pero or sino: the one question

Ask what the second half does to the first. If the first half denies something and the second puts something else in its place — not this, that instead — the word is sino: no quiero té, sino café; no vive en Madrid, sino en Sevilla; no fue él, sino su hermano. If the second half adds a contrast and leaves the first half true — this, and yet that — the word is pero: es caro, pero vale la pena; quería llamarte, pero se me acabó la batería. Sino needs a no in front of it, because there has to be something to replace; pero works after a yes or a no.

The academies' Diccionario panhispánico de dudas states the sino rule in one line: it introduces an element that replaces or substitutes the one negated in the preceding clause, and in that use it is preceded by a comma — no me refiero al trabajo, sino a tu vida misma is their example. The DLE defines pero as the conjunction that sets one idea against another that differs from it or extends it: el dinero hace ricas a las personas, pero no dichosas. The English test that works most of the time: if you could say but rather or instead, it is sino; if you could say but still or however, it is pero. A pero after a no is common and correct — no es caro, pero tampoco es barato — because nothing is being replaced, only contrasted.

Every use, in one chart

Two rows deserve a second look. No es que no quiera, sino que no puedo has a que after sino, because what replaces the first half is a whole clause with its own verb — the next section is about that. And date prisa; si no, perderemos el tren is si no in two words, a different thing altogether: if not, otherwise. The last section is about that one.

Sino que: the verb rule

When the two halves are clauses with a conjugated verb — not this happened, that happened — sino takes que: Prada no compraba la droga, sino que la vendía is the academies' example; no es que no quiera ir, sino que no puedo; no lo rompió, sino que ya estaba roto. When the replacement is a noun, an adjective or a phrase with no verb of its own, plain sino: no quiero té, sino café; no es rojo, sino azul. The academies note that the que is sometimes dropped in Mexico and the Río de la Plata — sino será uno muy especial — and say that omission, normal in old Spanish, should be avoided today unless the archaic ring is wanted.

Pero never takes que in this role. Pero que appears only in the colloquial intensifier pero que muy — está pero que muy bien, it's really very good — which the DLE records as an expression of its own.

No solo… sino también

After no solo or no solamente, the second member always arrives with sino, and a comma before it: Bolívar soñaba no solo con la independencia de Hispanoamérica, sino con su unidad. It is very often sino también — no solo de miedo, sino también de aburrimiento — and when the second member is a clause with a verb it is sino que: no solamente lo conocían, sino que simpatizaban con él. All three are the academies' examples. Two things never work here: pero after no solo, and si que in place of sino, which the academies reject outright.

Sino meaning except

In a sentence with nadie, nada, nunca or a plain no, sino can mean except, apart from, other than — and then there is no comma before it: sabes que no quiero a nadie sino a ti; ¿qué otra cosa podía hacer sino recordarla?; no hace sino quejarse. The academies also record a close cousin: when what is denied is not spelled out, sino comes to mean more than or other than — aquel odio no era sino la cara deformada de un afecto. You will meet both in reading long before you need to produce them; the quiz has one.

Sino or si no? One word or two

The commonest spelling slip is not pero versus sino at all but sino versus si no. Si no is two words: the conjunction si, if, followed by the negative no — ¿y quién se lo dirá, si no lo hace usted?; espero que venga en un coche grande, porque, si no, no llega usted; Natalia, ¿quién si no? The academies' test is the stress: in si no the no carries its own stress, while the conjunction sino is unstressed and runs into the next word. If you can say if not or otherwise, it is two words; if you can say but rather, it is one.

Why do English speakers mix them up?

Because English has one but and Spanish has two, and the English word covers both jobs without blinking: I don't want tea but coffee and it's expensive but good use the same but for a replacement and for a contrast. German speakers have an easier time, because German splits them the same way — sondern for the replacement, aber for the contrast — and the Spanish rule is the German one. The learner's two typical slips are pero where sino belongs after a no (no quiero té, pero café) and sino without que before a verb (no es que no quiera, sino no puedo).

There is no first-party error rate on this page yet: our mistake tagger counts ser vs estar, por vs para, the tenses and the object pronouns, not the conjunctions. When it does, the number will sit here, the way it does on the sibling pages. Until then the quiz is the measure.

What comes after pero and sino?

Que vs lo que is the other join word English folds into one, and qué vs cuál the other half of what. Muy vs mucho and bien vs bueno are the small words English speakers translate too literally. The free Spanish level test says where all of this sits on the CEFR scale in five minutes.