Por y Porque

Question

Would it be safe to assume that "por" is used instead of "para" when it makes sense to say "porque", or "because" in English? This was just a connection I made while reading the lesson, and knowing this would be really helpful! If so, can the two words just be swapped out for one another? Thanks!

Accepted Answer

Hola Amelie
Yes, exactly, both por and porque are expressing the "cause", they just have different structures, so, for example, we have this sentence in the lesson using por:

Le dieron el trabajo por ser el primo del director.
He was given the job because he was the manager's cousin.

You can see that we are using "because" in the translation. You could also say this same thing using "porque", but watch the different structure of the sentence:

Le dieron el trabajo porque era el primo del director.
He was given the job because he was the manager's cousin.

With "porque..." we have a conjugated verb: "era", not an infinitive (por ser...) - it'd be incorrect to say "por era el primo del director."
This other more advance lesson expands on this content. Have a look here. Saludos
Inma