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ĉar vs. pro

by Enni, October 20, 2008

Messages: 8

Language: English

Enni (User's profile) October 20, 2008, 9:12:02 PM

can someone explain the difference between those two for me?

thank you

tommjames (User's profile) October 20, 2008, 9:45:27 PM

Enni:can someone explain the difference between those two for me?

thank you
ĉar = because
pro = because of / due to

Example:

Mi parolas Esperanton ĉar tio estas plezure.
Mi ŝatas Esperanton pro ĝia facileco.

trojo (User's profile) October 20, 2008, 9:50:06 PM

Well, the short answer is that ĉar is a conjunction (meaning "because"), and pro is a pronoun (meaning "because of" or "due to"). Basically that means ĉar will take a phrase with a finite verb after it (finite verbs have -as, -is, -os, -us, or -u endings), but pro will only take noun phrases.

Compare:
La ludo ne okazis pro la vetero.
(The game didn't occur due to the weather.)
La ludo ne okazis, ĉar la vetero estis malbona.
(The game didn't occur because the weather was bad.)

RiotNrrd (User's profile) October 21, 2008, 2:26:22 AM

When I'm writing fairly quickly, sometimes I write "ĉar de" (because of). When I'm editing, I'll go through and turn any of those into "pro"'s (although every now and then one will slip by).

Miland (User's profile) October 21, 2008, 9:43:58 AM

The confusion might have arisen because both of these can be used as parts of answers to the question 'Why?' For example Kial vi ne aĉetis la aŭton?

However with ĉar (= 'since') you need a clause, i.e. a phrase that could stand alone as a complete sentence such as mankis al mi mono. With pro (= 'on account of') you don't need a clause, as it simply points to the thing that we need to know as in pro manko de mono.

Here's an analogy that may help. A traveller goes to a train station and asks two people at an information booth 'Why is the train late?' The first says 'The track is being repaired.' That is similar to what follows ĉar. The second simply says 'Due to repairs!', perhaps pointing with her finger to a sign saying 'Track being repaired - expect delays'. That is similar to what follows pro.

Taciturn_ (User's profile) October 23, 2008, 7:03:12 PM

cxar - is a conjunction that unites two sentences.Mi amas vin cxar vi estas bela.

pro - is a preposition that is placed in front of a noun.Mi amas vin pro via beleco.

We can use "pro" in combination with "ke" that will set the same sense as "cxar" does.
Pro ke = cxar.Mi amas vin pro ke vi estas bela.

Miland (User's profile) October 23, 2008, 8:34:17 PM

Taciturn_: We can use "pro" in combination with "ke" that will set the same sense as "ĉar" does..
To do that, we need an intermediate tio, so that pro tio ke = 'on account of the fact that', so that
Mi ne amas ŝin nur pro tio, ke ŝi estas bela = 'I do not love her only because she is beautiful'. See PMEG here (last box), and also here (last para).

trojo (User's profile) October 24, 2008, 6:07:49 PM

I don't know why "pro tio ke" is as common as it is (easier to just say "ĉar" if you ask me), but we have a similar turn of phrase in English with "due to the fact that".

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