No cotejamos fotos, sino el acta de entrega.

Cotejamos is the 1st person plural present indicative form of cotejar.

So it means we compare, we check against, or we cross-check, depending on context.

In this sentence, cotejar sounds a bit more formal or technical than a basic verb like comparar. It is often used for checking one document, record, or piece of information against another.

• yo cotejo = I check / compare
• tú cotejas = you check / compare
• nosotros cotejamos = we check / compare

So No cotejamos... = We do not check/compare...

Because No negates the verb.

In Spanish, the normal way to make a sentence negative is:

No + verb

So:

• Cotejamos fotos = We compare/check photos.
• No cotejamos fotos = We do not compare/check photos.

The no applies to the verb cotejamos, not just to fotos.

Because sino is used after a negative statement to replace one idea with the correct one.

The pattern is:

no X, sino Y = not X, but rather Y

That is exactly what is happening here:

• No cotejamos fotos, sino el acta de entrega.
• We don’t check photos, but rather the delivery record.

Use sino when:

1. the first part is negative, and
2. the second part corrects or substitutes it.

By contrast, pero just means but in a general contrast sense.

Compare:

• No cotejamos fotos, sino el acta de entrega.
  = Not photos; instead, the delivery record.

• No cotejamos fotos, pero sí revisamos vídeos.
  = We don’t check photos, but we do review videos.

Because Spanish often leaves out repeated material when it is already clear.

The full idea would be something like:

• No cotejamos fotos, sino cotejamos el acta de entrega.

But that sounds repetitive and unnatural. Spanish normally omits the repeated verb:

• No cotejamos fotos, sino el acta de entrega.

This is very common. English does something similar:

• We don’t check photos, but rather the delivery record.

You do not need to repeat check in English either.

Because fotos is being used in a more general sense, while el acta de entrega refers to a specific document.

So:

• No cotejamos fotos = We don’t check photos / we don’t use photos for this
• sino el acta de entrega = but rather the delivery record/document

Spanish often omits the article with plural nouns when speaking generally:

• Leo libros. = I read books.
• No vendemos coches usados. = We don’t sell used cars.

But if you mean specific photos, you could say:

• No cotejamos las fotos, sino el acta de entrega.

That would sound more like not the photos, but the delivery record.

So the absence of las makes fotos feel more general or non-specific.

This is a very common question.

Acta is indeed feminine, but feminine singular nouns that begin with a stressed a- sound often use el instead of la in the singular for ease of pronunciation.

So we say:

• el acta
• el agua
• el águila

But the noun is still feminine. You can see that in adjectives:

• el acta firmada = the signed record
• el agua fría = the cold water

And in the plural, the normal feminine article returns:

• las actas
• las aguas

So el acta does not mean the noun is masculine. It is still feminine.

Acta is a formal written record, report, certificate, or official document.
De entrega means of delivery, for handover, or for transfer, depending on context.

So acta de entrega is a set phrase for a formal document recording that something has been delivered, handed over, or transferred.

Depending on the situation, natural English equivalents might be:

• delivery record
• handover document
• delivery certificate
• record of delivery
• handover report

The exact English translation depends on the real-world context, but grammatically the Spanish phrase is:

• acta = record/document/certificate
• de entrega = of delivery / of handover

They are similar, but not always identical in tone.

• comparar = to compare
• cotejar = to compare carefully, check against, or cross-check

Cotejar often sounds more formal, procedural, or document-related. It is very common in administrative, technical, legal, and verification contexts.

For example:

• comparar dos fotos = compare two photos
• cotejar datos/documentos/firmas = cross-check data/documents/signatures

So in this sentence, cotejamos suggests something like checking official information against a document, not just casually comparing things.

Yes. Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same.

• No cotejamos fotos...
  = We don’t check photos / photos are not what we use

• No cotejamos las fotos...
  = We don’t check the photos / not those specific photos

So:

• without the article = more general
• with the article = more specific

A learner should understand that Spanish articles are often used differently from English, especially with plural nouns.

In Spain, cotejamos is pronounced approximately:

ko-te-HA-mos

A few useful points:

• co sounds like co in coffee
• te is a clear teh
• the j is the important part: in Spain it is a strong throaty sound, like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• mos is pronounced clearly, with a pure o sound

So the j is not like the English j in jam.

You can, but changing the order changes the emphasis or even the meaning.

The original sentence:

• No cotejamos fotos, sino el acta de entrega.

This means the rejected item is fotos, and the correct alternative is el acta de entrega.

If you say:

• No cotejamos el acta de entrega, sino fotos.

that means the opposite:

• We do not check the delivery record, but rather photos.

So with no X, sino Y, the order matters a lot. The first item is what is being rejected, and the second is what replaces it.