I am having some real difficulty distinguishing から and ので and I could use some help. Bunpro says から emphasizes causes and ので emphasizes effects, but honestly I have no idea what that means. In the sentence “because it is Saturday, I want to go on a trip,” the cause is Saturday (the first part of the sentence) and the effect is going on a trip. “Because it is Saturday” is first, and that’s where the Bunpro blank is, so so I would assume から, right? Because it emphasizes causes. WRONG. It’s ので.
To make this even more complicated, every other source I consult about this says something different. This site says:
The conjunctions kara （から） and node （ので）both express reason or cause. While kara is used for reason or cause of a speaker’s volition, opinion and so on, node is for existing (existed) action or situation.
So this seems like から is about opinions and ので is about existing actions. This makes sense on the face of it. “Because it is cold, I stayed home”? ので , because it’s about staying home, an action. “This car is old, so I want a new car”? から, because wanting a new car is an opinion.
However, when you look at that Bunpro sentence from earlier (“because it is Saturday, I want to go on a trip,”), this logic falls apart. Wanting to go on a trip seems like an opinion, and not an action (since it isn’t actually happening), so から is the obvious choice. But it’s ので! I just don’t get it.
If someone could please explain this to me, I would be eternally grateful!
Just saw another example sentence on Bunpro: “Because tomorrow is Monday, I will go to work.” It seems just like the Saturday sentence, but it uses から instead of ので. That’s the problem I keep running into–the rules seem to make sense, until there’s an exception.
From what I’ve read, this is one of those differences that are sometimes even debated among native speakers, to a degree. The DoBJG lists out a lot of nuances, but personally, focusing on those at this stage is just going to confuse someone. With more immersion over time, you’ll probably pick up some of them. For the gist of it however, I remember stumbling upon this reddit thread when i first googled 'ので vs から’
hjstudies’ comment is really helpful and i think you’d greatly benefit from watching the youtube video he’s linked. it’s a little simplified, but i think at this point it’ll help. one of the mods here can chime in to add onto this thread in case something i linked or said was wrong, but it’s seemingly helped me differentiate the two along the way. hopefully after you’re doing watching you can see why から would make a little more sense here than ので, but just remember the differences are usually very small and i don’t think someone would bat an eye if you used either or.
Thank you, that video was great! I’m still a little confused, but I’ll follow the advice to just use から conversationally and understand when someone uses ので.
ので is composed of の and the particle で. So it almost means “With that… since…”. Because the cause happened to exist, there is an effect that also happened to exist.
から emphasizes a direct correlation (a very normal “because”). The cause happens, so the effect happens.
“私は魚が好きなので、その食がおいしそう。”
Connotation : “Since I (happen to) like fish, I (happen to) think that this meal looks good”
“私は魚が好きだから、その食がおいしそう。”
Connotation : “Because I like fish, it makes me think that this meal looks good”
Anyone, feel free to correct me if I’m defining them wrong, this is the best way I found to explain the nuance.
I was going to give the answer but I’m curious to see if after watching the quick video linked in that reddit thread you’ll be able to answer it yourself! I agree that without additional context and especially if English doesn’t happen to be someone’s first language, spotting the difference can be tough. Really do think that you’ll be able to knock it out of the park after watching and reading it! Best of luck.
On reviews just showing “emphasis on the cause” is not much of a way to make me remember which one to use.
I think it is the same as since and because, they would mean almost the same but the words are different then it would be better to learn them anyway, because people usually say things in a different way right
it is like the “the next day” and “the following day” I guess, just different ways in how people say.
A teacher once explained to me that one shouldn’t use だから or から for own excuses (I overslept, car broke down, dog ate my homework, etc). Those are too strong and make it sound like the problems are also the listener’s problem. Instead, the teacher recommended それで or ので for these occasions.
Why did the teacher make this recommendation? It’s because から emphasizes the cause. By emphasizing the cause, that becomes the focal point of the sentence, just as if you’re pushing it to the listener’s face. IIRC the teacher said this use of から can cause the reaction “Slow down there. Your problems (sleep, car, dog) are your own. Don’t try to involve me in your problems.”
Using the wrong expression might sound offensive, because it may sound like you are making excuses or avoiding taking responsibility for your actions.
The example sentence they use is simple enough in English:
Hello, I’m sorry, but can I call you back because I’m driving?"
and the author explains how this is perceived with から versus ので:
Using “から” puts emphasis on himself and his actions – therefore, his statement may be perceived as a little selfish. …
… “ので” … puts more emphasis on his situation and circumstances than on his actions, implicating that there is something out of his control responsible for him being unable to talk on the phone right now, ultimately making him sound a bit more apologetic.
Therefore: Using “ので” is appropriate for making requests.
If you use “から” when making a request or asking someone for something, you are putting emphasis on your own needs, actions and opinion, which may implicate your selfishness.
Now that I look back at my answer, I feel like it doesn’t explain very clearly indeed.
Node puts the emphasis on something happens, and so there is a natural consequence.
Kara puts the emphasis on a consequence that happened because of a specific cause.
They both mean “because”, it’s just a gut feeling difference.
You can read more explanations about it, but don’t spend too much time studying it. This “gut feeling” gets more and more clear as you read examples and progress.
I also asked my wife about this (as she’s a native speaker & studied Japanese linguistics).
She explained that the difference is subtle and they can often be interchanged. However, her sense is that you use から for the things that the listener should be able to assume. With ので, that implication is not there.
As you may know, common sense assumptions and observations are huge in Japan. There are many things you should know or observe without anyone needing to tell you. If someone needs to explicitly tell you that you couldn’t make the right assumptions, then what’s going on? Don’t you have any common sense, or what? Everyone who moves to Japan struggles with this, and many native Japanese do as well.
For example, if someone says, “I had a drink, so I’ll take a taxi home”, then with から, this can sound like “I had a drink, right? Didn’t you see that? Don’t you realize what that means? Of course I’m not going to drive back home.”
In my wife’s mind, because から can refer to the common sense assumptions that all Japanese are expected to have, it can makes this be more in-your-face for the listener because you might be implicitly accusing them of not having any common sense. Furthermore, this is what often makes the consequence after からbe optional – it’s supposed to be obvious to you what it is. When you omit the consequence, you’re just gently reminding the listener of what the “common sense” situation is.
For these reasons, you can say that から focuses attention on the reason.
If you say “I had a drink, so I’ll take a taxi home” with ので, it sounds more like, “Well, I had drink (and I have this personal rule that I won’t drive) and therefore I will take a taxi back home.” In other words, the listener was not expected to be able to assume this to be the case.
Since ので doesn’t refer to the common sense assumptions, the listener will expect the consequence to be explicitly stated, otherwise the sentence wouldn’t have any meaning. The speaker’s intent with such a sentence is to communicate the consequence.
For these reasons, you can say ので emphasizes the consequence.
I hope all of this will clarify what it means to “emphasize the cause” vs “emphasize the effect”.
I know this is old, but I’m still going to post since this thread is linked as a mod response in the discussion section for this grammar point.
After watching the video linked above, I think I know the difference here (so posting to make sure I’m right and to clarify for others).
Because tomorrow is Monday, I will go to work. - から
vs Because it is Saturday, I want to go on a trip. - ので
The video explains it as:
A から, B = Because of A, B (Focus is on Reason)
Because I want to go to Japan, I am saving money.
Because I want to go to Japan (Reason) is the most important part.
:
A ので, B = A, so B (Focus on the Result)
I don’t have any money, so I can’t go to Japan.
I can’t go to Japan (Result) is the most important part.
So with first sentences: Because tomorrow is Monday, I will go to work.
The most important part is tomorrow is Monday - and so から is used.
If it weren’t Monday he might do something else, but as it is Monday, he has to go to work.
Because it is Saturday, I want to go on a trip.
The most important part is I want to go on a trip and so ので is used.
They don’t have to go on a trip because it’s Saturday, they want to go on a trip, and this is doable, because it is Saturday.
If it were instead: Because it is Saturday, I will go on a trip.
I would read that as “Saturday is the day that I always (or usually) go on trips, so as it is Saturday, I will thus go on a trip.”
With the first example, they are going on a trip because they want to. Saturday just allows them to do so.
With the second they are going on a trip because it is Saturday. Saturday is the reason they are going on a trip, just like in the other sentence, Monday is the reason they are going to work.
I’m pretty certain I have that correct.
Please correct me if I got it wrong
Edit:
I was further thinking about how it would work if you used those two sentences and simply swapped から and ので.
Original sentence:
明日は月曜日だから、仕事に行く。
If you switch it to:
明日は月曜日なので、仕事に行く。
I think that’s grammatically incorrect and it actually breaks the sentence (but I could be wrong?).
Where as if you take:
土曜日なので、旅行に行きたい。
and make it:
土曜日だから、旅行に行きたい。
I believe it still works, it just shifts the focus of the sentence.
Instead of saying: I want to go on a trip and I can because it is Saturday
It would be:
Saturday is a special day so I want to do something because of that, and that something will be taking a trip.
In the first instance the trip is the key part, the second, Saturday is the key part. So on Bunpro, you really wouldn’t know which to use without the hint of where the emphasis is. Whereas if you replaced Saturday with Anniversary, it might be more obvious which one would work best.
Anyway, I think I have that right. I got both of those grammar points really high before I realized I didn’t have any clue of the difference between them, as anytime I got it wrong the system just suggested there was a different grammar point to use in orange, so I would just change it to the other.
Recently I’ve been purposefully failing ones that do that, and I’ve discovered there are quite a few grammar points that are similar and I didn’t realize I had no clue of the difference between them.
