Why in Spanish 🇪🇸

Pronunciation

Normal speech: pohr KEH
IPA: por ˈke

8 months ago

Not porque

Why? Because.
First the short words, por que for why. Then porque, because.

2 years ago

por qué, porqué, porque, and por que

Essentially, porque, por que, porqué and por qué are all pronounced the same (with some minor differences related to emphasis), but they mean totally different things. While porque translates to “because”, por que translates to “for which”, el porqué to “the reason” and por qué to “why”.

7 months ago

Memory helper

If there’s a space between ‘por’ and ‘qué’ and the e in ‘que’ has a little dash above it (é not e), then it means “why”

If there is space and no dash (e not é) it means “because”

a year ago

por qué info.

Tips to remember “por qué”:
1. Break the word down into “por” and “qué”, which can help you remember that it is asking “for what” reason.
2. Think of the English equivalent “why”, which is querying the reason or justification behind something.

Explanations:
– “Por qué” is used in questioning contexts when asking for reasons or explanations.
– It is a combination of the preposition “por” (for) and the interrogative “qué” (what), literally meaning “for what”.

Other words that mean the same thing:
– “Por qué motivo” can be a more emphatic way of asking “why”, which translates to “for what reason”.
– “Para qué” though not identical, is sometimes used similarly, translating to “for what purpose”.

Alternate meanings like slang:
– “Por qué” does not commonly have slang meanings as it is a straightforward interrogative phrase.

Examples of sentences that use it:
– “¿Por qué estás triste?” – “Why are you sad?”
– “¿Por qué decidiste estudiar medicina?” – “Why did you decide to study medicine?”
– “Necesito saber por qué se canceló la reunión.” – “I need to know why the meeting was canceled.”
– “¿Por qué se ríen todos?” – “Why is everyone laughing?”

a few seconds ago