Explaining causes with "yinwei"

A common way to explain causes in Chinese is with 因为 (yīnwèi). This is almost entirely equivalent to "because" in English. Usually 因为 will begin a new phrase in a sentence.

Structure

In this structure, we first state the result, and then give the reason in the next statement after the 因为.

Result ，因为 + Reason

Examples

• 我 不 喜欢 汉字，因为 很 难 记。I don't like Chinese characters because they are hard to remember.
• 她 喜欢 你，因为 你 很 友好。He likes you because you are friendly.
• 我 不 记得 昨天 的 事情，因为 我 喝 了 太多 啤酒。I don't remember what happened yesterday because I drank too much beer.
• 今天我没去上课，因为 我的身体不太舒服。I didn't go to school because I did not feel that well.
• 我的男朋友很有爱心，因为 他很喜欢小动物。My boyfriend is loving because he cares for animals.
• 我的爸爸和哥哥都不抽烟，因为 抽烟对身体不好。Both my father and brother don't smoke because smoking is not good for health.
• 我的外国朋友学汉语学得很快，因为她经常看中国的电视剧。My foreign friend learned Chinese really fast because she often watches Chinese TV shows.
• 上个周末他们没有去杭州玩儿，因为 天气非常热。Last weekend they didn't go to visit Hangzhou because the weather was very hot.
• 上海的年轻人英语说得不错，因为上海有很多老外 。The young people in Shanghai speak English well because Shanghai has a lot of foreigners.
• 上个月我不在上海，因为我去南京玩儿了 。I wasn't in Shanghai last month because I went to visit Nanjing.

See also

• Explaining results with "suoyi"
• Cause and effect with "yinwei" and "suoyi"
• Stating the effect before the cause (advanced article)

Sources and further reading

Books

• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp. 272) →buy

HSK3