les conjonctions

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A conjunction is a word used to link or 'conjoin' (join!) words or phrases. There are two classes of conjunctions: coordinate and subordinate.

coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions link words, phrases or independent sentences. These conjunctions conjoin forms of the same grammatical category (adjective + adjective, noun + noun, clause + clause, etc.).

With the exception of or, all of these conjunctions can be used to link adjectives, nouns or verbs within a sentence. Here are the most commonly used:

In addition, ou, et, ni , car, mais, donc, and puis are also used to combine two clauses into one: 

Ou, or, puis, donc, mais indicate a link between two separate sentences. Or, mais and puis are usually placed at the very beginning of the second sentence. Donc is usually placed either at the beginning or right after the conjugated verb  of the second sentence. 

subordinating conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction links an independent clause to a dependent clause. In other words, a subordinating conjunction joins  two inequivalent clauses (independent and dependent). 

An independent clause is any clause that can stand alone to form a grammatical sentence.  For example:  “You look lovely.”

A dependent clause cannot stand alone and 'depends' on the main clause in order to form a complete thought.   For example:  “I think”  “I think...that you look lovely today!”

The most commonly used subordinate conjunctions: