Breakdown of Wir kochen heute nicht vegan, sondern vegetarisch.
wir
we
kochen
to cook
heute
today
nicht
not
sondern
but rather
vegan
vegan
vegetarisch
vegetarian
Questions & Answers about Wir kochen heute nicht vegan, sondern vegetarisch.
Why do we use sondern instead of aber for 'but' in this sentence?
You use sondern when you are correcting a negative statement. Since the first half contains nicht (not vegan), the second half uses sondern to provide the true alternative ('but instead vegetarian'). If the first half didn't have a negative word, you would use aber.
Why doesn't it say 'sondern wir kochen vegetarisch'?
Because the subject (wir) and the verb (kochen) are exactly the same in both halves of the contrast, you can drop them after sondern. Saying sondern vegetarisch is much more natural, just like saying 'but vegetarian' in English.
If I did include the full clause after sondern, what would the word order be?
sondern is a 'position zero' conjunction, meaning it doesn't count as the first idea in the clause. If you wrote the full phrase, it would be sondern wir kochen vegetarisch. The subject (wir) takes position 1, and the verb (kochen) stays safely in position 2.
Why is nicht placed right before vegan instead of earlier in the sentence?
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