but・however
Structure
- Phrase1 + が + Optional Phrase2
More polite than けど
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@mrnoone I don’t think things like “More polite than けど” should be displayed immediately during reviews. If you don’t display that, the user may think of different variations during the review, which is helpful in its own way. I would only display something like that if the user answers with けど.
Also, when I tried けれど and けれども I got a message saying “Not quite that formal”. So is the formality level more or less けど --> が --> けれど --> けれども? Is there anything else in that chain?
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I have changed the notification, it was supposed to be “Can you say it another way?” I made a mistake. 
Also, the hint has been changed to “[formal, often used in literature]”
From least formal to the most:
けど < けども < けれど < けれども ⇄ が.
Though in written language が is the one used the most.
Also, unlike けれども, が has other functions. Similar to “and”.
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Thanks for clarifying the order and making the changes. I’ve seen が used as “and” before, but every time I see it I do a double take because I’m used to it meaning “but”.
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Hi, I saw in one of the example notes the following:
“In an AがB sentence, unlike many other grammar points, the politeness in the A and B clauses (parts of the sentence) should match”.
So I wanted to ask in relation to the subsequent example:
大変ですが、面白い
Should there be a “です” after “面白い” or can “面白い” be considered polite enough by itself?
Sorry if this is a bit basic, just a bit confused as I saw in the structure section of the lesson, that we would add “です” to an [い] adjective if it were to come before the が. So was wondering if we need to add “です” to it after the particle given the politness indicated by “大変です” beforehand.
Thank you!
There’s nothing in 面白い that makes it polite, so if you want to be polite you have to add です or rephrase in some other way that allows a politeness marker.
If anything, in general, the です at the end is more important than the one in the middle. Like the example note says, with が, politeness should match, like in 大変ですが面白いです. But with many other conjunctions, only the final politeness marker is required for a polite sentence. For example, 大変だけど面白いです is fine, although using です in both parts is also OK.
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That makes a lot of sense, thank you for clarifying! 
Hi all,
I have a similar question. In the suggestions on the first sentence, we read:
In an AがB sentence, unlike many other grammar points, the politeness in the A and B clauses (parts of the sentence) should match. So ‘難しいが, 頑張る’ and ‘難しいですが, 頑張ります’ are both correct. However ‘難しいが、頑張ります’ would be considered unnatural.
A few examples later, we are given this phrase:
日本語は面白いが、難しいです。
Given what indicated in the suggestion, should not this phrase be either 日本語は面白いが、難しい or 日本語は面白いですが、難しいです?
Thank you!
Regarding the following example sentence, for some reason, my brain wants to say 面白いですが instead of 面白いが. Is this just a bad habit I’ve developed or would it be fine to do so here?
日本語は面白いが 、難しいです。
I think it’s even better that way. Politeness should be the same on both sides of が.
Thank you for that! That makes plenty of sense to me.