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I’m trying to study and understand how to use aber und sondern (as “Konnektoren”). In my language (Italian) there is no difference in translation; both mean something like but.
I can say for example:
Ich muss in die Schule gehen, aber ich bin ein bisschen krank.
Ich spiele nicht Tennis, sondern ich spiele Fußball.
In these two examples (taken from my book), I don’t see any difference. Could I also use sondern in the first sentence and aber in the second one? Would that make a difference?
Aber has the same meaning as however and the contradicted clause can either be positive or negative.
Sondern is used only when the contradicted clause is negative, in other words contains nicht or kein, and it can be translated as but rather or instead – but not instead of.
In your first example, aber is used as an explanation why you can’t go to school: You’re ill.
On the other hand, sondern always indicates some sort of contradiction or replacement, e.g. if you correct a wrong statement (the assumption, that you play tennis).
By the way, if the same verb (in this case: spielen) is used for both actions, it is more idiomatic to avoid mentioning it again. Thus, instead of:
Ich spiele nicht Tennis, sondern ich spiele Fußball
you should say:
Ich spiele nicht Tennis, sondern Fußball
Read more about it on this article on Your Daily German.
While aber is pretty close to the English but, the word sondern has a special meaning and cannot be replaced by aber (and vice versa).
You are supposed to use sondern after a negated phrase to express, that you are now talking about something true.
Ich mag keine Süßigkeiten, sondern Salziges.
In English you would use "rather than" in an inverse order.
I prefer salty stuff rather than candies.
Some other possibilities to express this are:
Ich mag keine Süßigkeiten, aber dafür / vielmehr / aber stattdessen Salziges.
Worth noting is, that all the proposals above are somewhat special and are not able to replace sondern in an elegant and universal way.
ABER versus SONDERN
Aber is used when you want to express the opposite between the statement in the main clause and the one in the subordinate clause.
Sondern is used when the two concepts exclude each other. The two concepts cannot happen at the same time. In the first sentence you have a negation expressed with nicht or kein, which will help you to identify the word sondern as the appropriate one for the sentence.
Check the examples on this link to understand the differences better: http://biglife.sk/index.php/2015/10/22/aber-versus-sondern/
"Sondern" is only used if the two ideas come for the same category. With category I mean eg. a profession (doctor/manager) or a game (tennis/badminton) or a temperature (cold/warm)...
Example:
Es ist nicht kalt, sondern sehr warm. (It's not cold but very warm.) Es ist nicht kalt, aber ich ziehe mir eine dicke Jacke an. (It's not cold but I'll wear a big coat.)
In the first example "cold" and "warm" are both adjectives which describe temperature. So, they come from one category. In the second example the two ideas of the two sentences are in contrast, too but one sentence describes a temperature and they other what somebody is going to wear. At last hint which might help you is, that there must be a negation form (nicht or kein) in the first sentence to use "sondern." If there is no "nicht" or "kein" in the first sentence you have to use "aber".
Sondern is more like:
Non è un asciugacapelli, è una maschera.
Aber is more like:
Sono alla fermata, ma l'autobus è in ritardo.
