Sinon is a French conjunction with meanings including otherwise, if not, or and or else.
sinon
Otherwise, if not, or else
Word origin
The French conjunction sinon (otherwise) combines si (if) and non (no).
Example sentences
These first two example sentences use French’s two comonly used future tenses: Le futur proche and the futur simple. They also use two reflexive verbs: Se dépêcher (to hurry) and se coucher (to go to bed). The French negation ne…jamais means “never”.
Dépêche-toi, sinon tu n’arriveras jamais à l’heure.
Hurry up! Otherwise, you’ll never arrive on time.
Je vais me coucher tôt ce soir, sinon je serai fatigué demain.
I’m going to go to bed early. If not, I’ll be tired tomorrow.
The commonly used impersonal expression il faut has many meanings including “you have to”. The pronoun on can translate to “you”, “we” and people in general.
Il faut être patient quand on apprend le français, sinon c’est top difficile.
You have to be patient when learning French. Otherwise, it’s too hard.
Related lesssons
- French future tenses
- Reflexive verbs
- Negation rules
- Jamais – never
- Pronoun on
- Demain – tomorrow
- Il faut – It’s necessary, have to
- Trop – Too, too much, too many
References
Word of the Day | Lessons by David Issokson
