Language/Russian/Grammar/А-vs-Но

There are many conjunctions in the Russian language but the most difficult ones for foreigners to use are following: «А», «Но».

There are difficult because it’s very hard to decide which one to use in the appropriate situation, it depends on what speaker wants to say or express.

Despite the fact that there’s a big difference between these two, Russian learners always face a great deal of problems when picking up which one to use.

This is why we’ve made this wiki-lesson. 

Let’s talk about ‘A’ and ‘Но’ as the most difficult and meaningful conjunctions.

‘Но’

When choosing a conjunction remember the following statements:

‘Но’ means that something has occurred is different from the things we expected to happen.  

For example:

• I called him, but he didn't answer - Я позвонил ему, но он не ответил.

So you expected that he would respond, but he did not. In English they use "but" to express this meaning. The Russian use ‘Но’ to express contradiction as in example:

• My car is very old, but good.  – Моя машина очень старая, но хорошая.

So despite the fact that it’s old, it’s still good. When we say that a car is old we expect it to be bad, but it’s still good, so we use ‘Но’ in this case.  In the next example:

• I have a car, but not a computer - У меня есть машина, но нет компьютера.

Again, this is contradiction: I have THIS, but not THAT.

Another example:

• Her salary is low but she likes her job - У неё маленькая зарплата, но она любит свою работу.

So her salary is low and we expect her to hate her job due to the fact but she does not hate it, but loves it!  

To sum it up, the main meaning of ‘Но’ is a contradiction to expectations.

Now, we use the ‘А’ conjunction in the comparison constructions like

• I study Russian and you study English - Я изучаю русский, а ты английский

• My name is Boris and your name is Sasha - Меня зовут Борис, а тебя Саша.

• My name is Boris, and what’s your name? - Меня зовут Борис, а тебя?

‘A’

The ‘A’ conjunction always tells us some new or something different from the things were mentioned before.

Another way of using ‘A’ is to add some new information, let’s say in purpose to change the subject:

• Oh, by the way, what time is it, I am late! - А, кстати, сколько сейчас времени? Я опаздываю!

Remember also that in negative constructions like:

• ‘This is a house, not a car’ - Это дом, а не машина

We have to use ‘A’ conjunction.

So the main difference between ‘A’ and ‘Ho’ is that ‘A’ is not a contradiction, it simply adds some new information into the conversation, whereas ‘Ho’ is a contradiction to expectations.

Exercises

Great. Now let’s have a look at some exercises to train our skills. Let’s do a small quiz.

А или НО

1. У меня есть машина, (1) нет дома
2. Это мой друг, (2) это мой враг.
3. У меня высокая зарплата, (3) я не люблю свою работу
4. У тебя есть брат, (4) у меня есть сестра
5. Я позвонил президенту, (5)  он сказал, что он больше не президент.
6. Я хотел купить учебник, (6) забыл деньги дома.
7. Эта машина очень старая, (7) ездит прекрасно
8. Этот поезд выезжает в 10, (8) тот в 12.
9. У меня нет учебника, (9) у тебя есть.
10. Этот кинотеатр хороший, (10) очень дорогой.

So, in this small lesson we’ve discussed two very important conjunctions in the Russian Language.  Complete the exercise above and leave your comments if you have any questions about that or any other topic. Thank you for your attention!