Because: porque, como, ya que, pues

Explication

Spanish has several ways to say 'because/since', and position distinguishes the two everyday ones. Porque ('because') follows the result clause: no fui porque llovía, cerramos temprano porque era feriado. Como ('since/as') leads with the cause, at the start of the sentence: como llovía, no fui.

This positional split is strict: *porque llovía, no fui sounds wrong — front the cause with como, or put porque after the result. The more formal 'since' connectors are ya que, puesto que, dado que: ya que estás aquí, ayudame.

For a same-subject cause you can compress with por + infinitive: lo multaron por estacionar mal ('they fined him for parking badly'). Watch the four spellings: porque ('because'), ¿por qué? ('why?'), el porqué (the noun 'the reason'), and the rare por que ('for which').

Exemples

Règles liées

• Subordinators: the map and their moods
• Por: cause, exchange, movement through, duration