Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 3/12

からBecause, Since

Structure

Verb + から
[い]Adjective + から
[な]Adjective + から
Noun + + から

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Case Marking Particle

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    Standard

About から

から can have several different meanings in Japanese, depending on which part of the sentence it is in, and what comes before/after it. It is often translated as 'because', or 'since'. In these cases, it just means 'Because of (A), (B)'.

から may be used with almost any type of word, but when the nuance is 'because', it will require before it when following a noun or な-Adjective.

Despite having several different nuances, it may be easier to think of から as meaning 'from' in all situations, as that is the base nuance.

From (A as a reason), (B) = Because/Since.

From (A as a location), (B) = From.

Fun Fact

から is a special type of particle in Japanese called a case marking particle. These are particles that describe the relationship that (A) and (B) exist in. We will learn more about these soon!

Examples

--:--

    (わたし)(いぬ)()ですから

    Because I like dogs.

    菓子(かし)だから(あま)

    Because it is candy, it is sweet.

    (から)から、カレー()

    Because it's spicy, I like curry.

    (たの)から、スポーツ()

    Because it is fun, I watch sports.

    学生(がくせい)がいるから学校(がっこう)があるだろう

    Because there are students, there is a school, right?

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      から – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (18 in total)

      • Jake

        Jake

        because・since

        Structure

        • Verb + から
        • いAdjective + から
        • Noun + から
        • なAdjective + から

        [から can mark subjective or objective causes/reasons while ので marks objective ones・emphasis on the cause]

        View on Bunpro

      • xBl4ck

        xBl4ck

        I think I’ve read somewhere that if you’re using the polite form in multiple main clauses, the politness-level has to agree. (Feel free to correct me/add to that, I don’t think I really understand what a main clause is yet °-°)
        So wouldn’t “ですから” be wrong unless it’s “あまいです” ?

      • mrnoone

        mrnoone

        @xBl4ck
        You are absolutely right!

        It has been fixed!

        Thanks

      • zyoeru

        zyoeru

        In Genki, this is first introduced in chapter 5 where it provides the structure:

        (1) バスに乗りましょう。タクシーは高いですから。

        However, in DBJG, paragraph 1 says:

        “[…] in Japanese, kara clauses always precede the main clause.”

        So the example Genki gives should be タクシーは高いから、バスに乗りましょう。

        Can someone help me reconcile this?

      • Daigo

        Daigo

        Hello, one of the context sentences is:

        スポーツをしたからあついです。

        Which translates to: Because I played sports, I am hot.

        Does it refer to body temperature, or to body sexiness?

      • mrnoone

        mrnoone

        @Daigo
        Hey
        This word is not used to indicate body sexiness (there are other words like セクシー or エロい).
        In this sentence it refers to body, evokes image of swearing a lot.

        Cheers!

      • makeupsomethinglater

        makeupsomethinglater

        In kanzen master they have the structure like 〜からです to be used at the end of a sentence like

        スピーチが上手にできませんでした。れんしゅうが足りなかったからです。

        But I could not find any examples of this usage in Bunpro. Should I consider it the same as this grammar or is it somewhere else?

      • Fuga

        Fuga

        Hey!

        This is the same grammar point as this one, but used at the end of a sentence. スピーチが上手にできませんでした。れんしゅうが足りなかったからです。and れんしゅうが足りなかったから、スピーチが上手にできませんでした。has the same meaning.

      • malotka

        malotka

        That may be a stupid question, but…
        How to diffrientiate から as a sentence conjuction from any other conjunction particles?
        I am always messing my reviews with all that が、から、けど、etc.

      • matt_in_mito

        matt_in_mito

        Hey and welcome to the community!
        From the examples that you gave, が and けど both essentially mean the same thing (but), but the former is more formal than the latter. If you answer either of them on the other’s review, you should get a ‘Can you say it another way?’ message so you can fix it without having an incorrect review.
        から has a different meaning altogether; it means ‘because’, so if you answer by one of the examples you gave, that would be marked as incorrect, basically because it is. Are you getting reviews marked as incorrect for other things that have basically the same meaning (because)? If so, you can either fill out a feedback request while doing your reviews, or pop a message here.
        Hope this helps

      • ator666

        ator666

        Screenshot 2022-09-20 081029721×81 7.06 KB
      • Arwin1

        Arwin1

      • thepelkus

        thepelkus

        As someone else who recently came across this usage in the wild (i.e. Sentence One. Explanatory Sentence Two ending in から.), I feel like it’d be nice if this were mentioned in the grammar point / shown in an example sentence or two. Just an “icing on the cake” suggestion!

      • lungmao3

        lungmao3

        I’m a bit confused with this as well - I got the sentence with おいしい and だから is not allowed, but ですから is. Please can you explain why the latter is permissable?

      • nekoyama

        nekoyama

        い-adjectives can’t be followed by a copula like that. です is special because it can be used as a “politeness particle” too that has no grammatical function. Because the sentence ends with a verb in -ます form and is therefore a polite sentence, it’s possible, but not necessary, to also make the part before から polite.

      • MikkaT

        MikkaT

        Hi, I still don’t really understand the だ part in だから
        You have to add it after a na-adjective or after a noun.
        What does the だ actually mean?

        This is an example sentences from だから in the vocabulary deck.
        Why do you have to add a だ there even when it is a new sentence?

      • Fuga

        Fuga

        Hey @MikkaT !

        The だ used here and in けど is this. The reason that だ needs to be added after nouns and adjectives are the same reason you need to add ‘is’ in English.

        For example, 大きい会社だから、人がたくさんいる (natural) VS 大きい会社から人がたくさんいる (unnatural) is the same as comparing ‘Because it is a big company, there are a lot of workers’ VS ‘Because big company, there are a lot of workers’.

        Although they may look the same, だから, in the vocabulary section is a conjunction (接続詞), and だ+から is a case marking particle (格助詞). This means that だから is used to connect the first sentence and the second sentence like in the image you have attached. This is kind of similar to how grammar points like しかし is used!

        I hope that answers your question!

      • MikkaT

        MikkaT

        Hi, yes that makes it a bit clearer. Thank you.

      • zekken

        zekken

        What is the difference between the following quiz answers?

        • 私は犬が好きですから
        • 私は犬が好きだからです
        • 私は犬が好きだから

        I assume だから is less polite than the others, but then what’s the difference between ですから and だからです? Are they basically equivalent? Are there situations where I should prefer one over the other?

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