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Difference between pero and sin embargo

Dieser Beitrag erklärt ein wichtiges Thema der spanischen Grammatik (Text auf Englisch).

‘But’ no es siempre ‘pero’ y ‘however’ no es siempre ‘sin embargo’

We have different forms to oppose ideas in Spanish. Compare these two sentences:

La casa no es cara, pero es muy vieja → The house isn’t expensive, but it’s very old.
La casa no es cara, sino barata → The house isn’t expensive, but cheap.

As you can see, but could be translated in two different ways; however, this is not the topic of this blog. I have written another one explaining pero vs sino:

9. Pero vs sino, or how to say ‘but’ in Spanish

✔️ So, but is not always pero, it could also be sino.

Now, compare these:

La casa es bonita, pero no está bien situada → The house is nice, but it’s not well located.
La casa es bonita. Sin embargo, no está bien situada → The house is nice. However, it’s not well located.

In these sentences, the meaning is the same, but the structure is different:

La casa es bonita, pero no está bien situada. (one sentence)
La casa es bonita. Sin embargo, no está bien situada. (two sentences)

So, in some cases, you can paraphrase your ideas by switching the adversative forms. But not always:

I’d love to help; however, I don’t have time right now. → Me encantaría ayudar, pero no tengo tiempo ahora.
The idea is interesting; however, it’s too complicated. → La idea es interesante, pero es demasiado complicada.

In these two sentences, you have no choice. With sin embargo, these two phrases are totally unnatural in Spanish, and this is a very frequent mistake amongst students.

✔️ So, however is not always sin embargo.

We call this grammatical distribution. When you study a new language, you need to be aware of the structural contexts in which a word can appear. In some cases, English and Spanish could have the same distribution (y/and, or while/mientras) but in others, it could be different. This happens precisely with pero/sin embargo (and also with que/cual, another nightmare for you).

So, what should I use?

✔️ pero: it is an adversative conjunction which coordinates two elements in the same sentence. It could also be at the beginning of a sentence in normal conversation:

No tengo mucho tiempo pero iré a verte → I don’t have much time but I will go to see you.

– No tengo mucho tiempo. → – I don’t have much time.
– Pero dijiste que hoy no trabajabas. → – But you said that you didn’t work today.

It is by far the most common adversative form in normal conversation. Sin embargo is definitely more formal, although this is not the only difference.

✔️ sin embargo: this is a counter-argumentative discourse marker, which typically appears between sentences or between full subordinate clauses, and, as I said before, is more formal. It redirects the argumentation and clearly establishes a contrast, that’s why it is always separated by commas or its equivalent.

Había cumplido todos los requisitos y había obtenido excelentes resultados. Sin embargo, su solicitud fue rechazada → She had met all the requirements and achieved excellent results. However, her application was rejected.

El informe confirma que la economía está creciendo y que el empleo ha mejorado significativamente. Sin embargo, la desigualdad sigue aumentando → The report confirms that the economy is growing and that employment has improved significantly. However, inequality continues to rise.

Example from the episode

You will read this in the episode:

Read the full episode here →

Episode 14