Learn French: Ils veulent de la viande, cependant ils ne trouvent aucune proie. - They want meat, however they find no prey.

Both words express opposition, but cependant is slightly more formal and creates a stronger contrast between the two halves of the sentence. While mais translates simply to but, cependant is closer to however or nevertheless. It highlights the strong contradiction between wanting meat and finding none.

How does the negative phrase ne ... aucune work in this sentence?

ne ... aucune is a two-part negative structure meaning not a single or no. It wraps around the verb and replaces the standard ne ... pas, so you never use pas together with aucune. Because aucune describes the noun proie (prey), it agrees in gender, taking the feminine form instead of the masculine aucun.

Why is aucune proie singular when the English concept of finding no prey can feel plural?

In French, the word aucun or aucune literally means not a single one. Because it emphasizes the total absence of even one item, both the negative word aucune and the noun that follows it (proie) must be kept in the singular form.

Why do we say de la viande instead of just la viande?

Since meat is an uncountable concept here, French requires the partitive article de la to express the idea of wanting some meat. If you used the definite article la, the phrase Ils veulent la viande would mean They want the meat, referring to a specific, previously mentioned piece of meat rather than just meat in general.