Chinese Grammar: Lesson: Cause and effect with 因为。。。所以

It's nice to blame others, from time to time, right? So you can walk away with clean hands! This structure helps you do just that: say something occurred because this happened.

All jokes aside, this structure is pretty common in both spoken and written Chinese.

因为 (because), meet 所以 (so, therefore)

Structure

因为 + reason + 所以 + result

Since [something] happened, so [something] happened.

or Because of cause, therefore there is a result.

因为 pretty much means the same as "because" in English and is followed by an explanation. Coupled with 所以, it allows you to explain both the reason (cause) and the result.

Examples

因为这个 苹果 很 好吃，所以我 想 再 吃 一 个。
[Because] This apple was delicious, so I’m going to have another.

因为下雨 了，所以他们 没 去 踢足球。
Because it was raining, they didn’t play soccer.

Because of…

因为 and 所以 can each be used alone in a sentence.

因为 can be used on its own if one wants to emphasize more on cause than on effect. Its place can vary in the sentence based on where you want to put your cause.

Example

我们 两 想 学 汉语，因为我们 明年 要 去 中国。
We both want to learn Chinese because we’re going to China next year.

so…therefore

所以 on its own is used to explain results and means “so, therefore”.

It is often used in a sentence where an “因为” is implied, and since there’s a cause, there’s a result.

Structure

Cause + 所以 + result

Examples

你 快乐，所以我 也 快乐。
You’re happy so I’m happy.

天气 很 冷，所以你 要 多 穿 一 件 衣服。
Today’s really cold so you should wear a lot of clothes.