"And" vs "or" vs "nor"

Question

What's the difference between these 3 sentences:

I don't speak French or German.

I don't speak French and German.

I don't speak French nor German.

Please elaborate your answer since I need to explain this to Arabic students.
Thank you

Enoon · Accepted Answer

djolecI don't speak French or German.

Correct.

djolecI don't speak French and German.

Incorrect, unless it's a literal answer to the question, "Do you speak French and German?", but that is pushing it.

djolecI don't speak French nor German.

"Nor" has to be paired with "neither" in this context, as in, "I speak neither French nor German", but that sounds rather literary. If you employ inversion, you can use "nor" without its "neither" ("I do not speak French, nor do I speak German"), but that, too, rings literary.

Anonymous · Answer

1. I don't speak French or German.
= not French and not German
Example:
I don't speak French or German; I only speak English.

2.
= not French or not German
Examples:
James speaks French and German, but I don’t speak French and German; I only speak German.
James speaks French and German, but I don’t speak French and German; in fact, I speak only French.
James speaks French and German, but I don’t speak French and German; in fact, I speak only English.

3.
I don't speak French nor German.
= Ungrammatical.
To make it grammatical:
I don't speak French. Nor do I speak German.

But style 3 is much less common than style 1.

The following example sentences may be easier:

Don’t drink and drive.

Vs
B. Don’t drink or drive.

Sentence A is good advice. The combination is dangerous, but either alone may be OK.
Sentence B is too strict (unless maybe you are Amish!).

- Jack Amano

"And" vs "or" vs "nor"

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