In the twelfth class of our Absolute Beginner Spanish course we are going to learn the basic structures to express intention, objective, purpose… For this, we’ll see the equivalents of English why, because (of), (in order) to, etc.
Three basic structures
The basic question Why…? can be answered in several ways. Also in Spanish, the question ¿Por qué…? will have different answers.
The most natural answer in English will be Because…, which in Spanish is translated as Porque… This kind of answer requires a verb in the present tense (for now).
—¿Por qué estudias español?
—Porque tengo familia en España.
Of course, notice the difference between ¿Por qué…? and Porque…, not only about spelling, but also about pronunciation, stress and intonation.
Another possible answer can be (In order) to…, i.e. Para…, which requires an infinitive. (Yes, the proper question for this kind of answer would be What for?, that is, ¿Para qué…?, but both work).
—¿Por qué estudias español?
—Para hablar con mi familia española.
The last structure would be the equivalent to English Because of…, in Spanish Por + noun (or equivalent).
—¿Por qué estudias español?
—Por mi familia española.
Summary
The most frequent question is ¿Por qué…?
The three most frequent answers have the following structures:
- Porque + present
- Para + infinitive
- Por + noun
Y tú, ¿por qué estudias español? Use the three structures!