por que
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Portuguese
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- porque (Portugal)
- por quê (at the end of sentences)
- pq (text messaging)
Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]
Adverb
[edit]por que (not comparable) (Brazilian Portuguese spelling)
- (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?
- (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
[edit]- 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
[edit]- “por que”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
Categories:
- Portuguese terms inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese
- Portuguese terms derived from Old Galician-Portuguese
- Portuguese terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Portuguese compound terms
- Portuguese doublets
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese adverbs
- Portuguese uncomparable adverbs
- Portuguese multiword terms
- Brazilian Portuguese forms
- Portuguese terms with usage examples