Porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué: What is the difference between them

Are you confused between Por qué vs. Porque? A large number of people find it confusing and mix the two. If you are also one of them this blog post is for you. Learn Spanish online to clear all such confusions and ambiguities.

There are, basically, four porques in Spanish. Each of them differs slightly in spellings and also holds the difference in meaning. Let’s settle this at once so you can absorb the difference of all the four porques.

Porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué is considered to be the ultimate mystery of the world. But today you are going to solve this mystery by knowing the correct use of all the four porques in Spanish.

Porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué are pronounced the same but have a slight differences in the emphasis. But if you look at their meanings they are quite different from one another. The literal difference between Porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué is:

• Porque means “because”
• Por que means “for which”
• Porqué means “the reason”
• Por qué means “why”.

All four of them are quite different in terms of meaning and usage. It is extremely important to be clear with their meaning and usage in the sentence because a slight mistake and confusion among them can cause a misplaced Spanish accent. You can solve this problem by learning Spanish through online Spanish tutors to build a strong grip over the accent and grammar.

Even in English, there is great confusion between “you are” and “you’re” and “whose” and “who’s”. Even if you are fluent in English sometimes, your mind gets confused and you end up developing confusion among them. But the difference between Porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué is slightly more complicated than that.

So keep on reading to see the difference among them with appropriate examples.

Por qué (how to ask “why?” in Spanish)

Let’s start by looking at the difference between the two most porques: por qué vs porque. The meaning of por qué is “why” while the meaning of porque is “because”. So that means the first one is the question while the second one is the answer.

Though you may be muddled right now with all these varieties of – mainly – the same word, this por qué will continually be transcribed in two words and an accent over “e” when you want to ask a question: “why?”

Let’s just see it through some examples:

• Por qué no vienes? – “Why aren’t you coming?”
• Por qué lees libros en español? – “Why do you read books in Spanish?”
• Por qué no comes el pastel? – “Why aren’t you eating the cake?”

Now let’s see some examples where the word por qué is used as an indirect question:

• Me preguntó por qué no leo libros en español. – “He asked me why I did not read Spanish books.”
• Quiero saber por qué está tan feliz. – “I want to know why he/she is so happy.”

Porque – “because” (Learn how to give reasons in Spanish)

It is pretty obvious that whenever you start your question with ‘why’ the other person always starts their answer with ‘because’. Spanish has the same rule. Every time you ask someone “por qué”, they will undoubtedly begin their response with the basic and simple “porque” with no spaces and no accents.

Let’s just make it clear through some easy examples:

• Por qué no vienes a la fiesta? Porque estoy cansado. – “Why are you not coming to the party? Because I’m tired.”
• Por qué me llamaste? Porque necesitaba tu ayuda. – “Why did you call me? Because I needed your help.”
• Porque quiero mejorar mi español. – “Because I want to improve my Spanish.”

In some cases, porque is used to connect two clauses i.e. the reason of something and its results. For instance:

• No llegué a tiempo porque perdí el tren. – “I didn’t make it on time because I missed the train.”

Well, we hope now you are clear with the difference between por qué vs porque. Lucky people are those who are planning to learn Spanish because these two porques are most commonly used.

But it is still important to know the difference between the other two porques if you want to be fluent in Spanish. You need to prepare yourself for all the possible outcomes so that you may not have to face any difficulty afterward.

The important thing is the spelling. Like who’s vs. whose or its vs it’s, writing the wrong porque can change the meaning of a sentence, or break it altogether. That said, like a misplaced its, people will probably be able to tell what you were trying to say. But getting it right is still important in writing.

So let’s just move to the other two proques i.e. por que means “for which” and el porqué means “the reason”.

Por que – “For which”

It is the least commonly used among all the four porques. Por que means ‘for which’. Even in English, this word arrangement is rarely used in a sentence. Let’s look at ‘This is the book for which I was looking’. This does not look natural. Instead, ‘This is the book I was looking for’. This formation of sentences is natural and widely used.

Now look at the two situations in which por que is widely used:

• Esta es la razón por que no vine. – “This is the reason for which I didn’t come.”
• Cual es el motivo por que te has ido? – “What is the reason for which you left?”

Another imaginable state where you’ll need to use por que is when you’ll have phrasal verbs:

• Yo estoy preocupada por que el vuelo pueda cancelarse. – “I’m worried that the flight might be cancelled.”
•   La profesora aboga por que los alumnos no lleven deberes a casa. – “The teacher advocates that students should not receive homework.”
•   Mi abuela se preocupa por que comamos bien. – “My grandmother worries about our nutrition.”

El porqué – The reason

The last “porqué” is the easiest one. El porqué means ‘the reason’. It can also mean ‘why’ when it is used as a noun. Here are some of the examples of this porque:

• El quería saber más sobre los porqués de mi partida. – He wanted to know more about the reasons for my departure.
• Todo tiene un porqué. – Everything has a reason.
• Este buen clima es el porqué de mi felicidad. – This nice weather is the reason for my happiness.
• Cuál es el porqué de su elección? – “What is the reason of your choice?”

Now we are assuming that porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué is no longer a mystery for you. Wow if you want to know more about Spanish verbs and phrases start learning Spanish grammar to be proficient.

How to Make Sure You Know the Difference Between “Por qué”, “Porque”, “Por que” and “Porqué”

As you can see, the rules aren’t that complex.

If you’re struggling, we advise you don’t spend too much time studying the “rules” directly. Instead, find or create a bunch of example sentences that cover all four porques and put them on flashcards.

The more examples you see and hear of natural Spanish sentences that use these four words, the more you’ll get a natural feel for they actually work.

Conclusion

porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué may sound similar to one another but there is a huge difference in their meaning and usage. They are considered confusing until one does not know the difference. Once you start knowing their difference it becomes clear when to use a particular type of porque.

As mentioned above all four of them differ in meaning. One is used as a question while the other is used as the starting point of the answer so it is extremely important to be clear about their meaning.

Furthermore, if you want to understand other Spanish words other than porque vs por que and porqué vs por qué, enroll yourself with italki to learn Spanish. Italki is an authentic platform that provides foreign language learning training at your ease. It has several tutors proficient in Spanish. You can have one on one conversations with them to develop your grip over the foreign language. So enroll yourself and get started.