Les connecteurs logiques

What’s a connective word?

Connectives can be adverbs, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions or subordinating conjunctions.

 

What are they for?

Connective words are used to establish relationships between ideas, facts… and express the cause, the reason, the contradiction, the objective, the consequence…

List of common connective words
French	English
À cause de	Because of
Ainsi que	As well as
Alors	Then/so
Aussi/également	Too/as well
C’est pourquoi	It’s why
Car	Because
Cependant/pourtant	However
Comme	As/like
D’un autre côté	On the other side
D’un côté	On one side
De plus	Moreover
Deuxièmement	Secondly
Donc	So
En conclusion	In conclusion
En effet	Indeed/in effect
Enfin	Finally
Ensuite/puis	Then
Et	And
Mais/or	But
Malgré	Despite
Même si	Even if
Néanmoins/toutefois	Nevertheless
Ou	Or
Par conséquent	Therefore
Pour finir	To conclude
Premièrement	Firstly
Probablement/sans doute	Probably
Sauf	Except
Sauf si	Except if
Selon	According to
Si	If
Soit... soit...	Or ... or...

Some rules

“En effet”

In French, “en effet” is used to explain or justify something, this is why it is often followed by an explanation.

“Et”

As in English, “et” can precede some other connective words.

For example:
J’aime le rugby et aussi le foot → I like rugby and football too.

 

“Ainsi que” and “parce que”

Both connective words are followed by “que” but won’t trigger the subjunctive. You can find more connective words; some will require the subjunctive especially if they end with “que.” When “ainsi que” is followed by a vowel or “h”, it becomes “ainsi qu’.”

Using them in a sentences

They are usually followed by a subject, a proper noun, a disjunctive pronoun, or an article. They can have different position in a sentence even if the preferred one is at the start of a sentence to connect with the previous one or in the middle of a sentences to connect two ideas or elements together.

For example:
Je lis même si je suis fatigué(e) → I read even if I am tired.
Il vient sans doute ce soir → He probably comes tonight.
Je joue du piano; ensuite, toi de la guitare → I play the piano; then, you the guitare.
Je voudrais un thé et un croissant → I would like a tea and a croissant.