27.1.4 Ni ... ni ...
Ni... ni... corresponds to English ‘neither... nor.. .’:Ni José ni Paco lo sabía. Neither José nor Paco knew.15.2 (p. 57);^32 (p. 191)
27.1.5 Que
Que in written Spanish is normally a subordinating conjunction, but it is very
frequently used in the spoken language to indicate a vague logical connection,
often causal, between one sentence and another:
¡No lo hagas, chico, que te van a matar!
Don’t do it, mate, (because) they’ll kill you!27.2 Subordinating conjunctions
27.2.1 Complementizers
^26 (p. 131)
Que is used in reported (indirect) statements and commands (see 26.1). In English
the parallel complementizer ‘that’ is often omitted: ‘I said (that) I was going’.
Spanish que is not omitted, except in indirect commands in very formal written
style:Se ruega a los señores clientes no fumen.
Customers are requested not to smoke.^68 (p. 381)
Si is used in reported (indirect) questions (see 26.1).27.2.2 Subordinating conjunctions with more specific meanings
(a) Cause^43 (p. 253)
como‘since’
porque‘because’
pues‘so’
puesto que‘because’, ‘since’
ya que‘because’, ‘since’
For examples see 43.2 and 43.3.NOTE (1) These conjunctions are used with the indicative. However, no porque requires the subjunctive
(see 18.1.5) and como with the subjuntive expresses a hypothesis (see 18.2.3).
(2) Pues must be used with caution as a causal conjunction, and is probaby better avoided at
first. It has a relatively weak meaning, and usually introduces a cause as an afterthought.CONJUNCTIONS 27.2