Learn Spanish (Latin America): No es que su egoísmo sea intencional, sino que actúa sin maldad. - It is not that his selfishness is intentional, but rather that he acts without malice.

No es que su egoísmo sea intencional, sino que actúa sin maldad.

It is not that his selfishness is intentional, but rather that he acts without malice.

Breakdown of No es que su egoísmo sea intencional, sino que actúa sin maldad.

ser

to be

no, not

his/her/its/their/your (formal)

que

that / than

Questions & Answers about No es que su egoísmo sea intencional, sino que actúa sin maldad.

Why do we use the subjunctive sea in the first part but the indicative actúa in the second part?

This sentence uses the structure for rejecting a reason taught in this lesson. We use no es que followed by the subjunctive (sea) to introduce and deny a possible explanation. Then, we use sino que followed by the indicative (actúa) to state the actual, factual truth.

Why do we use sino que here instead of just sino or pero?

We use sino instead of pero because the second part of the sentence directly replaces and contradicts the first part (not X, but rather Y). We add que to make it sino que because the contrast introduces a completely new clause with its own conjugated verb (actúa).

Does maldad literally mean evilness here?

While maldad can translate to evil or wickedness, in everyday contexts it is frequently used to mean malice or bad intentions. Saying someone acts sin maldad is a very natural way to express that they mean no harm or aren't acting maliciously.

Could su refer to someone other than 'his'?

Yes, su is the possessive adjective for any third-person subject (his, her, its, their, or formal your). We only know it means 'his' here because of the provided English translation. Out of context, this exact same Spanish sentence could mean 'it is not that her selfishness is intentional' or 'their selfishness'.