However in French: Cependant, pourtant, toutefois, néanmoins, en revanche, par contre?

Question

Since yesterday I have been looking at a few dictionaries and forums online, looking for different words in French that mean "however". I want to learn about their usage. But I'm still confused especially because several of them have multiple meanings, most including the same one: However. Some posters these terms are all pretty much interchangeable; one guy said that you can mainly distinguish them by where they appear in a phrase ("pourtant" will never be at the end of a sentence). Another said it has to do with degree of disagreement between statements, suggesting that, for instance, "par contre" is stronger than cependant. I also read a few people say that of all these terms, "pourtant" is the closest in meaning to "yet".English is my native language and if someone asked me, I could not tell them exactly in what way "however", "yet", "nevertheless", "nonetheless", "on the other hand", etc, are different. And yet while (re)learning French, I am finding myself obsessing about these differences. Perhaps this is how I learn a new language, I don't know. Anyhow, I appreciate any guidance that natives or people with expertise in French can provide me. Thank you very much.

Answer 1

These terms are indeed used interchangeably but there are some subtle differences. For example, I would not use "neanmoins" (nevertheless) instead of any of the others to mean "however." I don't think "nevertheless" and "however" in English mean quite the same thing. Following are some other subtleties:

"En revanche," "par contre," and "d'autre part" (which you did not mention) are more akin to "on the other hand" which I don't think equates to "however" in English.

"Pourtant" is more akin to "yet" which I don't think equates to "however" in English.

"Cepandant," "pourtant," and "toutefois" most closely equate to "however" in English.

I would suggest that obsessing about these differences is not going to help you learn the language. Instead, once you learn the language, you can be more selective as to which word you would use in a particular context. In French, context is a big factor in deciding which similar-meaning word is going to fit the best.

If you think about it, there aren't too many words in English that can be used interchangeably with "however." In French, however, subtle differences are the order of the day and what make it such a rich, beautiful, and melodic language. The French expression "Vive la Difference" says it all.

I hope this helps and Bonne Chance!