All this kind of affirmations could use "sondern" between them to enfasize? "... ist nicht ..., sondern .... ist" Which synonyms can we use instead of sondern? Thanks

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1

Instead of English ‘but’ we can use in German ‘aber’ and ‘sondern’ .
‘Aber’ we use by not full negation, for example: Das Zimmer ist klein, aber bequem.
Here it’s better to use ‘sondern’ (full negation): Frankreich ist nicht billig, sondern teuer.
We needn’t to use the second ‘ist’.

2

Just an additional curiosity: is the comma after your two examples necessary? Because it’s after the main close or a full proposition (or something like that)?

Thanks.

3

I was taught so ( a comma before ‘aber’ and ‘sondern’), but modern generation doesn’t put a comma here.

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