¿Cómo es que aún no lo termina?
Why is it he/she still hasn’t finished it?
¿Cómo es que ha sido seleccionado?
How come he was selected?43.1.3 ¿A qué se debe?, from deberse a, ‘to be due to’, is less colloquial, and used in the
spoken and written language.
¿A qué se debe, crees tú?
What is it due to, you think?
¿A qué se debe tanta insistencia?
Why all this insistence?
¿A qué se debió?
What was it due to?
43.1.4 ¿Por qué razón/motivo?, ¿Cuál es la razón/el motivo?, are more formal and less
commonly used.
¿Por qué razón/motivo se comportó así?
Why did he/she behave like that?
¿Cuál fue la razón/el motivo de su alejamiento del cargo?
What was the reason for his/her removal from the post?
43.2 Giving reasons and expressing relationships of cause
and effect
To give reasons and express relationships of cause and effect, Spanish uses expressions
like the following:
porque‘because’
pues... ‘because.. .’
por... ‘because of.. .’
a causa de... ‘because of.. .’
debido a... ‘due to.. .’, ‘because of’
deberse a‘to be due to’
como... ‘as’, ‘since’
ya que... ‘as’, ‘since’, ‘for’
puesto que... ‘as’, ‘since’, ‘for’
dado que... ‘as’, ‘since’, ‘for’, ‘given that’
es que... ‘the thing is.. .’43.2.1 Porque is the expression most commonly used for giving reasons and for establishing
links between cause and effect.
Porque no quiero.
Because I don’t want to.
Porque sí.
Just because!
No lo compré porque no tenía suficiente dinero.
I didn’t buy it because I didn’t have enough money.
EXPRESSING CAUSE, EFFECT AND PURPOSE 43.2