Si no or sino? How to recognize the meaning of these two similar words in Spanish? How do you know when to write one or the other?
Both expressions have the same pronunciation and almost the same spelling, but they don’t mean the same thing; also, grammatically both words have different functions in the sentence. Although even native speakers make mistakes when writing these words, the truth is they are used in specific cases that are easily recognizable. Let’s unveil the mystery.
SI NO, meanings and how to use it.
Si no is made of two parts. The conditional conjunction ‘si’ and the negation ‘no’. We use si no to introduce a negative conditional sentence. In particular, we use si no when it works as “otherwise” to imply the idea of “on the contrary”
Just like the positive conditional si, it can appear in all types of conditional sentences, and it can either begin the whole sentence or start the second phrase.
Here we have some examples:
-Si no lo veo, no lo creo. (If I don’t see it, I don’t believe it.)
-Si no llueve, iremos a la playa. (If it doesn’t rain, we will go to the beach.)
-No habría venido si no me hubieras dicho. (I wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t told me)
-No lo compraré si no tengo dinero. (I won’t buy it if I don’t have money.)
-Ellos no han llegado al apartamento; si no ya me hubieran llamado. (They haven’t arrived at the apartment; otherwise, she would have called me already)
Notice how sentences starting with si no have a comma (just like in English with “if not”), while sentences where si no is in the second half of it don’t.
There are sentences where the subject after si isn’t omitted. In these cases, si no gets separated, and the subject inserted between them:
-Si tú no vienes, yo iré. (If you don’t come, I will go.)
-No iremos a la playa si tu hermano no llega. (We won’t go to the beach if your brother doesn’t come)
-Si Juan no estuviera tan cansado, iríamos al cine. (If Juan weren’t so tired, we would go to the cinema.)
-Habrían llegado temprano si el niño no se hubiera dormido. (They would have arrived early if the kid hadn’t slept.)
SINO, meanings and how to use it.
In Spanish, the word sino is an adversative conjunction that is used to contrast two things. It usually works as the English equivalent “but” or “but rather”. Generally speaking, we use it to create a contrast between and affirmative statement that is placed right after a negative one.
Even though it contains the same letters as si no and in the exact same order, it’s a single word, and it should always be written as such. It is better to translate sino as “but rather” or “but instead.”
Mainly because we have another word for “but” (pero), and many students think sino and pero are interchangeable. This will lead to a ton of mistakes
Let’s see a couple of examples:
-Que no es una chica, sino un chico. (That’s it’s not a girl, but rather a boy)
-No compres el vestido verde sino el rojo. (Do not buy the green dress, but the red one [instead].)
-No fue Ana sino yo. (It was not Ana, but me [instead].)
-No quiero café sino té. (I don’t want coffee, but tea [instead].)
The word “instead” shows you what is the difference translating sino as “but rather/but instead.” You only use “but” in English in these sentences, but in Spanish you must know how to distinguish sino from pero
Sometimes, we also use sino when we want to state an exception:
-Nadie lo sabe sino tu hermano (Nobody except your brother knows it)
And finally, we use sino when we want to add more elements to a single statement, usually with the formula ‘no solo… sino también‘ (not only… but also):
-Es una de las trabajadoras más eficientes de la empresa, no sólo por su trabajo, sino también por su trabajo social y activismo Ambiental (She is one of the most efficient workers in the company, not only because of her work,but also because of her social work and environmental activism)
Deciding when to use sino and when to use pero
How can you learn when to use sino versus pero, then? Both pero and sino are conjunctions. That means they are both used to connect words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. In English, the conjunction ‘but’ is used to contrast ideas or point out exceptions. Pero indicates an exception most of the time. Something happens, but there’s an exception to the rule, or we do something despite the world telling us to do otherwise. Then pero indicates a substitution. Because of this, we can substitute pero with “except,” “even though,” “however” or “despite.”
Some examples:
-No me gusta el vestido rojo, pero me encanta el verde. (I don’t like the red dress, but I love the green one— I don’t like the red dress. However, I love the green one.)
-Puedo ir a cualquier lugar, pero no al bar. (I can go wherever place but not the bar— I can go to all places except to the bar.)
-Era tarde, pero no nos dormimos. (It was late, but we didn’t sleep— It was late. Despite that, we did not sleep)
– Tengo que levantarme temprano, pero no quiero. (I have to wake up early, however I don’t want to)
A little trick here is to check that you have two complete sentences, you can join them with pero and make a new sentence.
No me gutsa el vestido rojo. Me encanta el vestido verde=No me gusta el vestido rojo pero me encanta el verde.
On the other hand, sino doesn’t mean an exception, but rather, a preference. You don’t want A, but you want B instead. You don’t like A, but you like B instead. It’s always a matter of choices and preferences, which is why we can substitute sino with “rather” or “instead”. You need to use sino in the following scenario:
Not this but that.
or
Not this but rather that.
The most important thing with the use of sino is that ‘this’ and ‘that’ are contrasting, related ideas.
Something else to consider on the decision between sino and pero, if either of these sentences started with a positive clause, like: This but that. In other words, sino is used to contrast first a negative clause against a positive clause second.
Let’s check some examples:
-No he estado en Texas, sino en Florida. (I haven’t been in Texas, rather in Florida — I have not been in Texas. I have been in Florida instead.)
-No tenía hambre sino sed. (I wasn’t hungry, but thirsty — I wasn’t hungry, rather thirsty.)
-No quiero carne sino pescado. (I don’t want meat but fish)
I hope this lesson clarifies both word’s usage. Remember practice makes the master. Try to make exercises to really understand and see the difference in what you want to express.
See you!
