Grammar: Conjunctions

Conjunctions are words or groups of words that connect words, phrases, clauses or sentences.

Coordinating conjunctions connect words or groups of words of equal importance in a sentence. They include ‘e’ (and), ‘ma’ (but), ‘o’ (or), ‘quindi’ (so), ‘perché’ (because) and ‘né…né’ (neither…nor).
Example: Mario e Luigi sono fratelli. (Mario and Luigi are brothers.)

Subordinating conjunctions connect a main clause with a subordinate clause and include ‘che’ (that), ‘se’ (if), ‘mentre’ (while), ‘quando’ (when), ‘dopo’ (after), ‘prima’ (before), ‘perché’ (because), ‘sebbene’ (although), ‘finché’ (as long as), and ‘nonostante’ (despite).
Example: Vado a casa se piove. (I go home if it rains.)

Correlative conjunctions are pairs of conjunctions that work together to coordinate words or phrases. These include ‘sia…sia’ (both…and), ‘né…né’ (neither…nor), and ‘o…o’ (either…or).
Example: Mario vuole sia il gelato sia la torta. (Mario wants both ice cream and cake.)

Some Italian conjunctions are identical to prepositions (like ‘prima’, ‘dopo’, ‘per’), however their function in the sentence is different.
Conjunctions do not change form, they are invariable.
Dialogue connectors, that link phrases or sentences in spoken language such as ‘allora’, ‘quindi’, ‘comunque’ are also considered conjunctions.
Conjunctions like ‘e’, ‘o’, ‘ma’ tend not to be used to start sentences in written Italian. One exception is ‘ma’ (but) which can start sentences in both spoken and written Italian.
Conjunctions like ‘perché’, ‘quindi’, ‘prima’ can be used at the beginning of a sentence in both written and spoken Italian.