If you want to know someone well, is it important to discover what motivates him or her? Everybody has a cause and an effect of why they what they do.
In contrast, a scientist always needs to match outcomes to their observations. That’s the whole point of science. Science is always trying to understand the relationship between cause and effect.
If you can understand today’s lesson then you can link cause and effect to understand a range of useful ideas. This includes expressing ideas around the cause and effect of people, science, politics or any other idea.
Whether it is in the classroom or in the laboratory or in a café. Being able to express the relationship between cause and effect is an important tool for your Spanish vocabulary.
There are lots of ways to link cause and effect in English. They can be broken down into two groups. Phrases that link a cause to an effect and phrases that link an effect to a cause.
For example:
1. Phrases that link a cause to an effect:
Accordingly, so, then, thus, consequently, hence, ergo etc.
2. Phrases that link an effect to a cause:
Because, since, seeing that, on account of, for the reason that etc.
In Spanish, there are also a ton of phrases that link cause and effect. But like most things on Real Fast Spanish I look to use conversation hacking principles. This is to reduce the total amount of vocab, expressions and grammar you need to know or remember for a conversation. With this in mind, I’m going to focus on the most useful Spanish phrases for cause and effect.
Therefore, today we are looking at 5 phrases that are extremely useful for linking cause with effect in Spanish.
En consequencia (These phrases link cause to effect):
Asi que
Por ese
Por lo tanto
En causa (These phrases link effect to cause):
Porque
Es que
The last example is very common. It’s used when forming sentences that require a cause to be explained that is often simply an excuse.
Examples form the episode are as follows:
I was hungry so I ate something – He tenido hambre, así que he comido algo.
I was hungry so I ate everything in the house – He tenido mucho hambre, así que he comido toda la comida en la casa.
I was hungry that’s why I ate everything in the house – He tenido mucho hambre, por eso he comido toda la comida en la casa.
This week I was really busy, that’s why I didn’t speak with my parents – Esta semana he estado muy ocupado, por eso yo no he hablado con mis padres.
This week I was really busy, therefore I didn’t speak with my parents – Esta semana he estado muy ocupado, por lo tanto yo no he hablado con mis padres.
I’ve been sick, so I could not go to work – He estado enfermo, por lo tanto no he podido ir a trabajo.
They have discovered life on mars, therefore, we have to rethink our understanding of life in the solar system – Han descubierto vida en Marte, por lo tanto, tenemos que repensar nuestra comprensión de la vida en el sistema solar.
I ate something because I was hungry – He comido algo porque he tenido hambre.
I could not go to work because I have been sick – No he podido ir a trabajo porque he estado enfermo.
Why weren’t you at work this week? – ¿Por qué no has estado en el trabajo esta semana?
It’s that, I was sick – Es que, he estado enfermo.
Why are you late? – ¿Por qué llegas tarde?
I arrive late because my car broke down – Llego tarde porque mi coche se ha roto.
I arrive late because I slept in – Llego tarde porque me he levantado tarde.
I’m sorry, it’s that my car broke down – Lo siento, es que mi coche se ha roto.
I’m sorry, it’s that my alarm clock broke – Lo siento, es que mi despertador se ha roto.
Are you up for going to the movies with us this afternoon – ¿Te apetece ir al cine con nosotros esta tarde?
I’m sorry, I can’t, it’s just that I have to help my dad with the shopping – Lo siento, no puedo, es que tengo que ayudar a mi padre con las compras.
Quote form the episode is as follows:
“El pasado es historia, el futuro es incierto, pero el hoy es un obsequio, por eso se llama presente” – Kung Fu Panda.
How can you use today’s examples to relate cause to effect?
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