Méouédoncornicar

Today, the coordinating conjunctions ("conjonctions de coordinations"):

• mais (may)= but
• ou (oo) = or (not to be confused with où = where)
• et (ay) = and
• donc = therefore, so. E.g. Je pense donc je suis = I think therefore I am. Can also be used to reinforce a statement. E.g.: Mais où est-il donc ? = But where on earth is he?
• or = and yet. Marks opposition, sometimes juxtaposition. E.g.: Il dit qu'il était au cinéma, or personne ne l'a vu = he says he was at the movie theater, and yet nobody saw him.
• ni / ni … ni (nee) = neither / neither … nor. E.g. Il n'est ni beau ni laid = he's neither handsome nor ugly
• car = because. It also means "a bus", which I agree is quite confusing.

To summarize, the list of conjunctions is "mais-ou-et-donc-or-ni-car", which sounds like "Mais où est donc Ornicar?" and almost makes sense if you pretend Ornicar is a person (But where on earth is Ornicar ?). That's how young kids are tought to remember those…and it works, apparently...