Lesson 110: Cause and Effect

To explain why things happen, you need the connectors of cause and effect. They turn a list of events into reasoned explanation — a core B2 skill.

A cancelled trip

Grammar: causes vs consequences

The crucial split is what follows the connector — a noun or a whole clause:

Hebrew	Romanization	Followed by	English
בִּגְלַל	biglal	a noun	because of
כִּי / מִפְּנֵי שֶׁ	ki / mipnei she	a clause	because
כְּתוֹצָאָה מִ־	kitotsa’a mi-	a noun	as a result of
לָכֵן	lachen	a clause	therefore, so

So it’s בִּגְלַל הַגֶּשֶׁם (“because of the rain”, a noun) but כִּי יָרַד גֶּשֶׁם (“because it rained”, a clause) — mixing them up is a classic slip.

Tip: The verbs of causation are לִגְרֹם לְ־ (ligrom le-, “to cause”) and לְהַשְׁפִּיעַ עַל (lehashpia al, “to affect / influence”).

Vocabulary