Thread: А или Но

What is the difference. If there is one, where are they used.

но=but
a can be as but as and

So "а" is used like a conjunction in English
where as "но" is used as a comparative.

e.g.
Её зовут Маша, она любит Сашу, а он любит Дашу, и только её.

Я люблю торт, но не каждый день.

Может быть я плохо пишу по-русский?

Originally Posted by Автобус

So "а" is used like a conjunction in English
where as "но" is used as a comparative.

Может быть, я плохо пишу по-русски?

Это предложение написано хорошо, вполне понятно.

Её зовут Маша, она любит Сашу. Но он её не любит.
Её зовут Маша, она любит Сашу. А он её — нет.

"Но" is also a conjunction.

conjunction
a word such as 'and', 'but', or 'because' which joins parts of a sentence
Longman


Please correct my mistakes.

Originally Posted by Zaya

Это предложение написано хорошо, вполне понятно.

Спасибо

Originally Posted by Zaya

Её зовут Маша, она любит Сашу. Но он её не любит.
Её зовут Маша, она любит Сашу. А он её — нет.

Я не понимаю.

Originally Posted by Zaya

"Но" is also a conjunction.

I realized this after you said it, but how do I know when to use но/а? From what I can see "но" is like "but" in the sense of total opposite, whereas "a" is like "but" in a comparative way.

Но means "but" and expresses a strong contrast, as in, the second part of the sentence is juxtaposed with the first.

"A" is a mild contrast, so means and/but.

Она некрасивая, но он её любит - She isn't pretty, but he loves her.
Here, the us of Но is because you don't expect him to love her because she's a bit of a dog.

Ивану 20 лет, а Еленe 17. - Ivan is 20, and Elena is 17.
Here the second part of the sentence is expressing additional information, but at the same time is a bit of a contrast, so A is used.

Thanks TATY that was a great explanation!

Originally Posted by TATY

Ивану 20 лет, а Елене 17.

Chaika provided a very good explanation of the problem in this thread:

http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtopic.php?t=12826