In an interview appearing in the Spanish series, 75 minutos, we can hear a beautiful gypsy voice singing the following:

Me dormí pensando en ti; pensando en ti, me desperté

I fell asleep thinking about you; thinking about you, I woke up

Soñé contigo, estoy sin ti y así llevo to' mi vi'a

I dreamed about you, I am without you, and I carry on like that all my life

Captions 10-11, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa

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Do you see that "ti" in the example above? That's a prepositional pronoun, or pronoun that follows a preposition. As prepositional pronouns may have been outshone in your studies by the complexity of object pronouns (me, te, se, le, etc.), let’s focus on them for a change.

A Look at Prepositional Pronouns in Action

When pronouns follow prepositions, they take on a special form in the first and second person singular, as follows:

Tú sabes que una fiesta sin mí no es una fiesta

You know that a party without me is not a party

porque yo soy el alma de las fiestas.

because I am the soul of parties.

Caption 19, Club 10 - Capítulo 1 - Part 2

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He sentido un flechazo por ti.

I felt love at first sight with you.

Caption 7, Cortometraje - Flechazos

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Note that, unlike the possessive adjective mi (e.g. Mi nombre, or "My name"), the prepositional pronoun mí has a graphic accent (tilde) whereas ti does not. 

In contrast to the first and second persons, the other persons utilize the same form as the subject pronoun (él, ella, nosotros, etc.) and do not require any special form:

Es un poco estresante para nosotros.

It's a bit stressful for us.

Caption 6, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Cachorro de leopardo

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No, estoy hablando de ella.

No, I'm talking about her.

Caption 22, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta

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O en los brazos de ella.

Or in her arms.

Caption 21, El Ausente - Acto 3 - Part 8

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Reflexive Use of the Third Person

The third person is the only grammatical person to employ a specific form exclusively for reflexive use: sí. Although this form does not indicate gender or number, these aspects are apparent (and the agreement with the subject achieved) with the words mismo(s) and misma(s), which often follow the prepositional pronoun sí when expressing the idea of "himself" or "herself." 

Agente, Pierre Bernard no habló mucho de sí mismo.

Agent, Pierre Bernard didn't talk much about himself.

Caption 24, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 4

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Sí can also come after the preposition entre in the third person plural to express the idea of "with each other," as follows:

Entonces, ellas son amigas entre sí, también.

So, they are friends with each other also.

Caption 48, Clase Aula Azul - Información con subjuntivo e indicativo

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However, entre can be also followed by the subject pronouns yo and tú:

Pues lo que está sucediendo

Because what's happening

es entre tú y yo

is between you and me

Captions 26-27, Vivanativa - Si tú me quieres

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Conmigo, Contigo, and Consigo

Soñé contigo, estoy sin ti / I dreamed about you, I am without you

Considering the fact that pronouns do not often merge with the prepositions that preceed them, you may have wondered why conmigo, contigo and consigo are written as a single word. The fact is that the prepositional pronouns mí, ti, and sí have special forms when used with the preposition con.

Quédate conmigo

Stay with me

Caption 42, Carlos Baute y Marta Sanchez - Colgando en tus manos

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Bailar contigo y perdernos esta noche

Dancing with you and losing ourselves tonight

Caption 9, Monsieur Periné - Bailar Contigo

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Porque si no, muchas personas

Because otherwise, many people

tienen conflictos consigo mismas.

have conflicts with themselves.

Captions 2-3, Natalia de Ecuador - Los tipos de temperamento

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Some years ago, a politician in Latin America gained notoriety after saying conmigo o sinmigo, an egregious error for a native speaker of Spanish, let alone a public figure! Now that you have read this lesson, you can rest assured that contigo no tendremos ese problema (we won’t have that problem with you). We hope you liked this lesson, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!

Si no or sino? That is the question of today's lesson. Do you know when to write one or the other? Both expressions seem very similar but they don’t necessarily mean the same thing. Although even native speakers make mistakes when writing these words, the truth is they are used in specific cases that are easily recognizable. Let's start this lesson with a little quiz: 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Which one would you use in the following sentence?:

Amalia no ha llegado al apartamento; ____ ya me hubiera llamado.

Amalia hasn't arrived at the apartment; otherwise she would have called me already.

What about in this one?:

No solamente cubre la ciudad de Bogotá, ____ varios municipios alrededor de... de Bogotá.

It doesn't just cover the city of Bogota, but rather several municipalities around... Bogota.

We will unveil the answers at the end of this lesson. Now, let's dive into the difference between si no and sino.

What is the English equivalent of si no?

Si no is made of two parts. The conditinal conjunction 'si' and the negation 'no'. We use si no to introduce a negative conditional sentence. In particular, we use si no when it works as "otherwise" to imply the idea of "on the contrary". Let's see a couple of examples:

Porque todos son amantes de los animales, si no, no vendrían a vernos.

Because they are all animal lovers, otherwise, they wouldn't come to see us.

Captions 45-46, Santuario para burros - Voluntarios

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¿Grabó esto sin su permiso?

Did you record this without her permission?

Claro que sí. Si no, no la habría descubierto.

Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't have discovered it.

Captions 52-54, Los casos de Yabla - El perrito malcriado

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What does the word sino mean in English?

In Spanish, the word sino is a conjunction that usually works as the English equivalent "but" or "but rather". Generally speaking, we use it to create a contrast between and affirmative statement that is placed right after a negative one. Let's see a couple of examples:

Que no es una chica, sino un chico. -Oh...

That's it's not a girl, but rather a boy. -Oh...

Caption 40, Extr@: Extra en español - Ep. 1 - La llegada de Sam

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Por esta razón, no decimos "uno libro", sino "un libro".

For this reason, we don't say "uno libro," but rather "un libro" ["a book"].

Caption 39, Carlos explica - Los Números: Números Cardinales

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Sometimes, we also use sino when we want to state an exception:

Nadie lo sabe sino tu padre.

Nobody except your father knows it.

And finally, we use sino when we want to add more elements to a single statement, usually with the formula 'no solo... sino también' (not only... but also):

Unas de las bandas más importantes de Latinoamérica,

One the most important bands in Latin America,

este... no sólo por su trabajo musical,

um... not only because of their musical work,

sino también por su trabajo social y activismo ambiental.

but also because of their social work and environmental activism.

Captions 10-12, Doctor Krápula - Entrevista

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Let's solve the questions

Considering all of the above, it is time to solve the questions we posed at the beginning of this lesson. Let's unveil the answers:

Amalia no ha llegado al apartamento; si no ya me hubiera llamado.

Amalia hasn't arrived at the apartment; otherwise she would have called me already.

Caption 19, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capitulo 4

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No solamente cubre la ciudad de Bogotá, sino varios municipios alrededor de... de Bogotá.

It doesn't just cover the city of Bogota, but rather several municipalities around... Bogota.

Captions 57-58, Bogotá - Chorro de Quevedo

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

That's it for today. We hope this lesson helped you to understand when to write sino and si no. And don't forget to send us your feedback and suggestions.