nihongo wo benkyou shitai

How hard can it be to say 'because'? Before this morning, I knew two ways: から and ので. Now it appears there is a another way: で.

Let's take a simple sentence structure like:

Because [reason], [action].

To Jenglish this, we get:

[reason] because [action].

All easy so far. But now it gets tricky.... the use of から, ので and で depends on what you are actually trying to say. Apparently, から has more focus on the reason, ので more on the result. I don't really know what this means right now, so let's just ignore it for now.

ので can be used when referring to an existing situation or fact. Good examples would be 'because it's raining', or 'because there are only 14 weeks to the exam'. ので is also seen as more polite and so used when people are involved, for example 'because my friend came'.

から can be used when stating a simple reason for something, for example 'because I lost my dictionary'. から is also used when expressing a personal view, such as speculation, suggestion, intention, opinion or a request. Examples are 'because my car is old', 'because it may rain today'.

で is similar to ので but is used after nouns. For example: 'because of work...' = 仕事で.

English: Because my friend was late, we couldn't go to the cinema.
Jenglish: [friend][late was][because][cinema to][go + couldn't]
日本語：　友達は遅かったです????映画館に行けました。


So, what about the sentence above?

Votes for から

• It's my friend's fault (emphasing reason)
  

Votes for ので

• It involves a person, so be polite (ので)
• I'm stating a fact - the film had started, we missed the train etc. (ので)

So, by 2 votes to 1, I think this is job for ので. Final sentence is:

日本語：　友達は遅かったですので映画館に行けました。

Does anyone have a better idea?