Level 6 · Lesson 1

因为…所以…
Because … therefore …

因为路上堵车，所以我来晚了。

Chinese keeps both halves of the cause-and-result pair, and the cause comes first.

听 · Listen

路上堵车
 安娜 —  李明，你今天来晚了。 
Li Ming, you're late today.  
 李明 —  对不起。因为路上堵车，所以我来晚了。 
Sorry. I'm late because the traffic was bad.  
 安娜 —  没关系。堵了很长时间吗？ 
It's fine. Were you stuck for long?  
 李明 —  堵了四十分钟。因为今天下雨，所以车很多。 
Forty minutes. There were a lot of cars because it rained today.  
 安娜 —  我明白了。下雨是原因，堵车是结果。 
I see. The rain is the cause, the jam is the result.  
 李明 —  对。因为我不想再迟到，所以明天我六点半就出门。 
Right. Since I don't want to be late again, tomorrow I'm leaving at six thirty.  
 安娜 —  那你应该早点儿起床。 
Then you should get up a bit earlier.  
 李明 —  因为明天要早起，所以我今天晚上早点儿睡觉。 
Because I have to be up early tomorrow, I'll go to bed early tonight.  

讲解 · Explanation

因为路上堵车，所以我来晚了。

English makes you choose: either 'because it was jammed, I was late' or 'it was jammed, so I was late'. Never both. Chinese keeps both halves, and that is the full, normal shape of the sentence — 因为 opens the cause, 所以 opens the result. Nothing is doubled and nothing is redundant. Note the order too: the cause comes first, the result second, which is the order Chinese prefers for almost every pair of clauses.

我来晚了，因为路上堵车。路上堵车，所以我来晚了。

Either half can also stand on its own. Put the 因为 clause second when the cause is an afterthought — very common in speech. Drop 因为 and keep only 所以 when the cause is already obvious to both of you. The one thing you cannot do is swap them: 所以 never opens the cause, and 因为 never opens the result.

因为你，我很高兴。堵车的原因是下雨。这就是结果。

因为 also takes a plain noun, not only a clause: 因为你, 因为天气, 因为工作. And the same relation has two nouns of its own. 原因 is the reason — A 的原因是 B tells you what lies behind A. 结果 is what came out of it. Both count with 个: 一个原因, 一个结果.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
因为	because	因为…，所以… ; also 因为 + noun
所以	so, therefore	always at the head of the result clause
原因	reason, cause	一个原因；…的原因是…
结果	result, outcome	一个结果；迟到的结果
堵车	traffic jam, to be stuck in traffic	路上堵车；堵了半个小时的车

练习 · Practice

今天下雨，______ 我没去公园。 It rained today, so I didn't go to the park.

哪个对？ Which sentence is correct Chinese?

下雨是原因，堵车是 ______ 。 The rain is the cause; the traffic jam is the ___.

因为路上堵车，______ 我迟到了。 Fill in the word that opens the result clause.

因为、所以、原因、结果、堵车 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

因为今天下雨，所以我没出去。因为我想学好汉语，所以我每天听中文。

Say three sentences aloud, each with both halves. One about today: why you did or did not go somewhere. One about your study: why you are learning Chinese. One about tomorrow: 因为明天…，所以我… . Then say the last one again with the cause moved to the back — 我…，因为明天… — and hear how it turns into an afterthought.