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 felt not so 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。Neither my father nor brother smokes 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's learnt Chinese very fast because she often watches Chinese TV plays.
  • 上个周末他们没有去杭州玩儿,因为 天气非常热。They didn't go to visit Hangzhou last weekend because it was very hot.
  • 上海的年轻人英语说得不错,因为上海有很多老外 。
  • 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

Sources and further reading

Books

HSK3