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por que

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Portuguese

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese porque, from Vulgar Latin [Term?]. By surface analysis, por (for) +‎ que (that). Doublet of porque.

Cognate with Spanish por qué, French pourquoi, Italian perché.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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por que (not comparable) (Brazilian Portuguese spelling)

  1. (interrogative) why, what for, for what reason (introduces a question)
    Synonym: por que que
    Por que o céu é azul?Why is the sky blue?
    Por que este e não outro?Why this one and not another?
    Por que você não chama ela pra sair?Why don’t you ask her out?
  2. (relative) why (for which cause, reason, or purpose; introduces a subordinate clause)
    Não sei por que você se foi.I don’t know why you left.

Usage notes

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  • Although this construction is officially considered unstressed when not clause-final (in which case it is accented, por quê), it is often pronounced with lexical stress regardless of its position in the clause.
  • This construction is not to be confused with literal ones using the words por (by, through) and que (what, which):
    Por que caminho seguir?
    What path should we follow?
    (literally, “By what path to follow [along]?”)

Further reading

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