Connectives

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Connecteurs logiques

French connectives are links: they combine words, phrases, or sentences. Connectives do not constitute a single part of speech, but rather a category of terms including all conjunctions and prepositions as well as certain types of adverbs and pronouns used in this way.

Conjunctions

All conjunctions – both coordinating and subordinating – are, by definition, connectives.

Je veux un chien et un chat.		I want a dog and a cat.
Il a dit qu‘il serait en retard.		He said (that) he’d be late.

Prepositions

All prepositions and prepositional phrases are connectives.

J’habite en France.		I live in France.
Il a réussi grâce à sa femme.		He succeeded thanks to his wife.

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are connectives between main and relative clauses.

C’est lui qui a menti.		He’s the one who lied.
Voici le livre dont je t’ai parlé.		Here’s the book I told you about.

Adverbs

Many adverbs of frequency, place, and time are connectives.

Je suis arrivé avant David.		I arrived before David.
C’est ici que nous nous sommes mariés.		It’s here that we got married.

Types of Connectives

Rather than being sorted by grammatical function as above, connectives are typically grouped by how they are used, what purpose they serve.

Usage / Purpose		Par exemple …
Addition		et, de surcroît, en outre
Addition		and, in addition, furthermore
Alternative		ou, soit … soit, ne …. ni … ni
Alternative		or, either … or, neither … nor
But		pour, afin que, de peur que
Purpose		for, so that, for fear that
Cause / Justification		parce que, par conséquent, grâce à
Cause / Justification		because, as a result, thanks to
Classification		d’abord, deuxièmement, ensuite
Ranking		first of all, secondly, next
Comparaison		comme, de même, plus que
Comparison		like, similarly, more than
Concession		malgré, bien que, même si
Concession		despite, even though, even if
Conclusion		donc, pour conclure, finalement
Conclusion		so, to conclude, in the end
Condition		si, au cas où, pourvu que
Condition		if, in case, provided that
Conséquence		en conséquence, c’est pourquoi, de façon que
Outcome		as a result, that’s why, so that
Explication		à savoir, c’est-à-dire, autrement dit
Explanation		namely, that is, in other words
Illustration		par exemple, notamment, tel que
Example		for example, notably, such as
Liaison		en fait, en effet, justement
Link		in fact, indeed, exactly
Lieu		ici, devant, au nord
Location		here, in front of, to the north
Opposition / Restriction		mais, cependant, sauf
Opposition / Restriction		but, however, unless
Résumé		bref, enfin, en somme
Summary		in short, finally, all in all
Supposition		à supposer que, dans le cas où, probablement
Supposition		supposing that, in case, probably
Temps		avant que, depuis que, quand
Time		before, since, when

 Related lessons

• Clauses
• Contractions
• Definite articles
• Imperative
• Past participles
• Prepositions
• Present participles
• Subjunctive

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