question on combining sentences (and/so/but)

[Strawberries513]

i was wondering what were the best ways to combine sentences as such in chinese:

"im from america so i only speak a little chinese"

"im from america but i speak chinese"

"im from america and i speak english"

sorry if my examples were bad, but what words should i use for that purpose? any help is appreciated

[geraldc]

Well for the first one, "so" you could use 所以

for "but" you could try 但是，可是

I don't think you need one for "and"

[ChiSage]

In chinese, most conjunctions work the same as in english. for example, "im from america so i only speak a little chinese" will use the conjunction "so" （所以）to connect the two sentences. The same goes for "but" (可 是).

However, chinese is a bit different for the use for "and". It is less frequently used for combining sentences than combining ideas. "and" could be 和 or 跟 for linking two subjects (you and I, this and that, etc)

"im from america and i speak english" would translate to "im from america, also i speak english." with the word for "in addition" (而 且) or (還 有). "In addition" is used to add a related topic to the previous statement.

Sorry if my explanation is bad, hope it helps.