"September är inte en dag, utan en månad."

Translation: September is not a day, but a month.

[CapdeBurro]

So "utan" means both "without" and "but", and "men" just means "but" ?

[Arnauti]

That pretty much covers it. (utan can be a conjunction and a preposition, but men can only be a conjunction).

[deactivated user]

I've also heard that utan is often used to signify a strong correlation between two things, where [It IS this, NOT that] - rather than a [but I was doing such-and-such]... Is this right?

[Arnauti]

Yes, like Det är inte ett äpple utan en citron 'It's not an apple but a lemon'.

[Malgosia007]

I've asked before, but I'll ask here as well, I hope you don't mind - does the sentence "Jag dricker inte kaffe utan mjolk" have two meanings or just one? "I don't drink cofee without milk" AND/OR "I don't drink coffee but milk?"

[Arnauti]

Yup, it can mean both.

[Beingfollowed]

So... always just use utan to play it safe?

[Zmrzlina]

No, that doesn't work either. If you for example start a sentence with utan, it can't take the but meaning.

[vaseaaa]

if the first part is a negation, then utan is used instead of men

[ViolentRed]

Can men be used here also?

[Zmrzlina]

No, Swedish men doesn't work like the English but in this case.

[scyyyy]

What about fast? Det är inte en dag fast en månad?

[Zmrzlina]

It's not entirely grammatically wrong as such, but you really should use utan.

[NicknameK]

So is "utan" like the german "sodern" ?

[flowermauer]

so klingt es.

[Doro675431]

Exactly, there is only a little n missing in your 'sondern'. "September ist kein Tag, sondern ein Monat." Enjoy studying with Duo.

[ZL321]

So utan is like both sondern and ohne in German? Interesting...

but, but, without -- English

men, utan, utan -- Swedish

aber, sondern, ohne -- German

men, uden, uden -- Danish

[ingredio]

So is it the same as?

Maar, maar, zonder -- Dutch

Seems like linguitical history took some weird turns on this one.. :)

[AgnusOinas]

We can keep adding to this list :)

ale, ale/nýbrž, bez -- Czech

mutta, vaan, ilman -- Finnish

लेकिन/परंतु , लेकिन , बिना -- Hindi

pero, sino (sino que), sin -- Spanish

[DogePamyuPamyu]

Does utan NOT mean but rather? I feel like but rather would be more grammatically correct here than just but.

[Arnauti]

I think there is a bit of overlap here, but generally rather is rather snarare in Swedish.

[jbrains762]

Strongly agree. Even if one doesn't say "rather" in Swedish, one does in English, and so "but rather" ought to be accepted.

[Anrui]

Well, you could do that in Swedish as well.

But rather - utan snarare

[Mister.Tutty]

The point is, that in English "but, rather" has the same meaning as "utan" in this context. If the point of this question, is to translate that meaning into English, then he is absolutely correct. Rather does NOT mean that one is better than the other, is this situation, it has the exact same meaning as "but" a month (the only real difference, it that it sounds MUCH more natural to use "rather").

If he was using googletranslate, or something, it would never give him that translation, but I believe that we're better than that, no?

[Prof3ssorSt3v3]

My English translation here was just using "rather", without the "but".
September is not a day, rather a month.

[Mister.Tutty]

Yes, you are correct.

[ahferroin7]

Alternatively, in some English dialects it's even more common to structure this type of sentence as "It's not X, it's Y.".

[J.Sol.Esp]

For anyone who speaks or has studied Spanish:

Men = pero
Utan = sin & sino ("without" and "but rather" / "but instead")

[S.M.94]

we are negating the verb är here right ?

[Arnauti]

Exactly!

[guppigrace]

is " september är inte ett dygn" instead of en dag, correct ?

[devalanteriel]

It's technically correct, but we only really use dygn if it's important for some reason to point the full twentyfour hours out.

[Isaac_Luna_]

So (correct me if I'm wrong): "Det är inte jul utan ost." = It is not Christmas without cheese. "Det är inte jul, utan ost." = It is not Christmas, but cheese." Kind of like the difference between "Let's eat, Grandma!" and "Let's eat Grandma!", right?

[devalanteriel]

Yes, that is correct. :)

[ezrl2112]

Shouldn't "September isn't a day, rather a month" be accepted?

[devalanteriel]

That would be e.g. utan snarare en månad.

[DerrickMcClure1]

I should NOT have been marked wrong for leaving out the comma!

[devalanteriel]

Certainly not. But that's a bug, not intentional.

[JYH6UtXB]

Is it fair to say that when used as a conjunction, 'utan' could mean 'but instead?' Like if I wanted to use these approximate words to say this in English, I might say 'September is not a day, but instead is a month.' Of course, really in English, I'd just say 'September isn't a day; it's a month.' But I'm trying to use the given phrasing.

[devalanteriel]

Sure. I usually say "but rather" if we want to be explicit about teaching the meaning.