Spanish · Chapter 42 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
Connectors of addition and contrast
The linking words that stitch ideas together: ademas and asimismo (addition), and the contrast set sin embargo, no obstante, en cambio, aun asi, mientras que - and how they take a comma and move around.
The short version
Aunque changes meaning with the mood after it
Aunque plus the indicative states a fact and means although: aunque llueve, salgo, and it really is raining. Aunque plus the subjunctive concedes a possibility and means even if: aunque llueva, salgo, it may or may not. The verb carries the whole difference, so getting it wrong reverses what you said.
Aunque llueva, salgo.
Sin embargo takes a comma, pero does not
Pero is a conjunction: it sits at the join between two clauses and cannot move. Sin embargo behaves like an adverb, so it floats behind a comma and can shift position. Sin embargo, no vino and no vino, sin embargo both work. Swapping one word for the other without fixing the punctuation does not.
Sin embargo, no vino.
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