から (Reason / Cause) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Conjunction
Essential Meaning: Because / Since
Construction:
- Sentence 1 informal + から, Sentence 2
- E.g. 眠いから、寝る。[Because I’m sleepy, I will sleep.]
- Sentence + から + だ
- E.g. 眠いからだ。[It’s because I’m sleepy.]
Notes:
- から (Reason / Cause) works similarly to the English subordinating conjunction “Because“. It is used to construct sentences such as “Because of X, Y” or “A: Why Y? B: Because X“. In other words, Sentence 1 indicates a reason or cause for the situation in Sentence 2. Note that the から clause always precedes the main clause.
- Because the から clause is a subordinate clause, its verb generally takes an informal form. But in very formal speech, it is acceptable to use a formal form.
- E.g. 今日は忙しいですから明日来てください。[Because I’m busy today, please come tomorrow.]
- The main clause (i.e. Sentence 2) may be omitted and replaced with the copula だ if its content is obvious or known to the hearer through context. One common situation when Sentence 2 may be dropped is when answering a “Why?” question, because it would be unnecessary and redundant to repeat the question back to the asker. The copula must match the formality level of Sentence 1.
- E.g. 来年日本へ行きますからだ。[It’s because I’m going to Japan next year.] This sentence is ungrammatical, because the verb 行きます is in a formal form, and the copula だ is in an informal form.
- E.g. 来年日本へ行くからだ。[It’s because I’m going to Japan next year.] This sentence is OK because 行く is informal and だ is informal.
- In question-answer situations, the expression may be further abbreviated by dropping the copula altogether.
- E.g. 来年日本へ行きますから。[Because I’m going to Japan next year.]
- E.g. 頭が痛かったから。[Because my head hurt.]
- In very formal situations or when formally explaining matters of fact, you can say からです instead of ですから. But in regular conversation, ですから can come across as overly proper or even condescending. It’s kind of like saying “Duh” or “You might not know, but let me tell you…“; it basically assumes that the hearer is ignorant of the topic.
- E.g. *日本が大好きだからです。[I quite enjoy Japan.] This example is not ungrammatical, but it sounds overly prim and proper due to からです.
- E.g. この人は暗殺されました。嫌われていたからです。[This person was assassinated. It’s because he was disliked.] It is acceptable to use からです in this case because the speaker is merely relaying a fact. Facts don’t necessarily require a soft, conversational tone.
- E.g. 休日ですから。[Because it’s a holiday.] This example sounds normal and conversational.
- E.g. *休日だからです。[You may not know this, but it’s because it’s a holiday.] This example is a bit offensive because the speaker is assuming that the hearer doesn’t know it’s a holiday and is condescendingly explaining this fact to the hearer.
- E.g. 田中くんはモテるですね。かっこいですから。[Tanaka-kun is popular, isn’t he? It’s because he’s cool.] This example sounds natural.
- E.g. *田中くんはモテるですね。かっこいからです。[Tanaka-kun is popular, isn’t he? You may not know this, but it’s because he’s cool.] This comes across as condescending due to からです.
Example Sentences:
来年日本へ行くから日本語を勉強している。[Because I’m going to Japan next year, I’m studying Japanese.]
A: どうして日本語を勉強しているんですか。B: 来年日本へ行くからだ。[A: Why are you studying Japanese? B: Because I’m going to Japan next year.]
春子は17だからまだお酒を飲めない。[Because Haruko is 17, she can’t drink yet.]
今日は忙しいですから明日来てください。[Because I’m busy today, please come tomorrow.]
A: どうして昨日学校を休んだんですか。B: 頭が痛かったからです。[A: Why were you absent from school yesterday? B: Because my head hurt.]
WILD Examples:
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