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Henry, Victor (1900) “aber”, in Lexique étymologique des termes les plus usuels du breton moderne (Bibliothèque bretonne armoricaine; III) (in French), Rennes: J. Plihon et L. Hervé
Ich mag keine Orangen, aber ich mag Äpfel. ― I don't like oranges, but I like apples.
Usage notes
Unlike most other conjunctions, aber doesn't need to be the first word of a clause and can thereby emphasize the preceding word(s): Ich bin dafür, er aber lehnt es ab. — “I’m in favour, buthe has rejected it.” In such a construction, aber can be considered an adverb, though the usual interpretation is that it is still a conjunction.
After a negative, sondern is used to express a contrast, while aber expresses a gradation or nuance. Compare:
Wir haben keine Pizza gekauft, sondern Zutaten, um eine selbst zu machen. ― We didn't buy a pizza but ingredients to make one ourselves.
Wir haben die Pizza nicht selbst gemacht, aber haben auch Zutaten gekauft, um sie zu verbessern. ― We didn't make the pizza ourselves but also bought ingredients to improve it.
It's usually better or less dated English to not translate sondern with but:
Er ist nicht genial, sondern dumm. ― He isn’t brilliant; in fact he's stupid. / He isn’t brilliant, he's stupid.
Er ist nicht genial, aber ziemlich klug. ― He isn’t brilliant but quite intelligent.
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
References
^ Delyth Prys, J.P.M. Jones, Owain Davies, Gruffudd Prys (2006) Y Termiadur: termau wedi'u safoni; standardised terminology (in Welsh), Cardiff: Awdurdod cymwysterau, cwricwlwm ac asesu Cymru (Qualifications curriculum & assessment authority for Wales), →ISBN, page 1
^ R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “aber”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies