common and colloquial than puesto que... Unlike como ... , ya que ... and puesto
que... can be placed before or after the main sentence.Ya que estás aquí, ¿por qué no me ayudas?
Since you are here, why don’t you help me?Es mejor que lo haga usted mismo, ya que la secretaria no vino.
You’d better do it yourself as the secretary didn’t come.Puesto que el diálogo se ha roto, tendrán que recurrir al arbitraje.
Since the talks have broken down, they will have to resort to arbitration.Dado que... is used in similar constructions, but its use is restricted to very formal
writing or speech.Dado que necesitamos más recursos, pediremos ayuda al gobierno.
As we need more resources, we will ask the government for help.No asistiremos a la reunión, dado que no hemos sido invitados.
We will not attend the meeting, since we have not been invited.43.2.6 Es que... is a colloquial expression used in the spoken language to convey an excuse or
justify something rather than give a simple reason. It is used as a reply to a question, a
statement or a non-verbal context.
22.1 (p. 103)
¡Mira lo que has hecho! ¡Lo has roto! – Es que se me cayó.
Look what you’ve done! You’ve broken it! Well, I dropped it.¿Por qué no lo has terminado? – Es que no he tenido tiempo.
Why haven’t you finished it? The thing is I haven’t had time.¿Por qué no la invitaron? – Es que se nos olvidó.
Why didn’t you invite her? The thing is we forgot.43.3 Other ways of expressing relationships of cause and effect
Relationships of cause and effect can be expressed in several other ways, for example:43.3.1 Using special verbs like causar, ocasionar, provocar, ‘to cause’, dar lugar a, ‘to give rise
to’.
El tabaco puede causar cáncer.
Smoking can cause cancer.El exceso de alcohol le ocasionó la muerte.
Excessive drinking caused his death.El exceso de velocidad fue lo que provocó el accidente.
Speeding was what provoked the accident.La invasión dio lugar a una cruenta guerra.
The invasion gave rise to a bloody war.EXPRESSING CAUSE, EFFECT AND PURPOSE 43.3