¡Hola! It’s Brenda Romaniello here today. It’s time for Hola Tuesday, your weekly Spanish lesson!!
[scroll down for English :)]
¿Cómo estuvieron tus vacaciones? Yo la pasé genial con mi mamá quien vino desde Argentina para visitarnos a Romi y a mí. Se fue el viernes pasado y fue una de las despedidas ¡más difíciles de todas! Pero sabemos que la pasamos muy bien juntas miestras estuvo aquí y que con suerte nos veremos pronto nuevamente ¿Tú hiciste algo especial estas vacaciones?
How were your holidays? I had such a great time with my mum who came over from Argentina to visit Romi and I. She left last Friday and it was one of the hardest goodbyes ever! But we know we had a great time together while she was here and hopefully we’ll see each other again soon. Did you do anything special?
In today’s lesson we’ll talk about the difference between ‘porque’, ‘por qué’, ‘porqué’ and ‘por que’. Do you know the difference? From a first impression all these words look and sound the same in Spanish. The only difference is the spelling, some are separated by a space and some have the written accent in the last é.
Thought they look and sound similar, there’s some differences that are important to understand to know when to use one instead of the other.
Porque (causa o razón) = because. We use ‘porque’ all together without the written accent to give a reason or an explanation, that is to say, to talk about a cause or a reason for doing something or not doing something. Por ejemplo: Quiero viajar a Colombia porque es muy bonito [I’d like to travel to Colombia because it’s beautiful]
Por qué (interrogación, exlamación) = why. We use ‘por qué’ with a space and the written accent in questions and exclamations and will generally be in between question and exclamation marks. We use it to ask why in Spanish. Por ejemplo: ¿Por qué estudias español? [Why do you study Spanish?]
Porqué (sustantivo: la razón, el motivo) = (the) reason/motive. Here ‘porqué’ is a noun and we use it to talk about ‘the reason’ or ‘the motive’ as a thing and not a preposition. Por ejemplo: No sé el porqué de su reacción [I don’t know the reason for his reaction]
Por que (por el cual, por la cual) = for/by/from which. The last one ‘por que’ refers to something by which something is done, or for which something is done or from which something is happening. Por ejemplo: El camino por que salimos llega al pueblo [the road we came out from gets to the town]
Watch the full video lesson below:
Now we’d love to hear from you. Can you give us one example of each showcasing the difference? We’ll be happy to check it and correct it for you.
That’s all for today! Remember to sign up to your Hola Spanish FREE lessons here, you’ll get access to the 10 Most Useful Phrases in Spanish and more content that we only share via email. I’ll see you next week on your Hola Tuesday lesson! ¡Adiós! ¡Hasta la próxima clase!