Poiché vs. Perché

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Hi, there! I am Luca and this wonderful video is aimed at those people who are learning the Italian language.

More specifically, this video is geared toward those learners who have already learned basic Italian and wish to improve their level.

I am referring both to those who are attending an Italian language class, for example at university or in an Italian language school, and those who wish to learn Italian on their own.

If you want, I would encourage you to take a look at my channel page, so that you get an idea of what type of content I publish. If you want, please consider subscribing, so that you don't miss the updates.

That being said, in this video I would like to discuss an error which is indeed very, very, very common. This mistake is made by countless non-native speakers who study Italian.

I think part of the issue lies in the fact that this thing isn't explained very well.

This error is related to two words: the word "Poiché" and the word "Perché". In particular, the error lies in using the word "poiché" in place of the word "perché".

Out of curiosity, I did a search on the Internet and saw many videos where this thing is explained in a rather bizarre way. I've seen that many people say that "perché" and "poiché" are synonyms. Therefore, if one wants to use "poiché" they can use "poiché", if one wants to use "perché", they can use "perché".

The problem is that this is far from being true. I mean, saying that "perché" and "poiché" are synonyms is like saying that between a red apple and a green apple there is no difference, because both are apples.

In reality, although these two words have a similar meaning, in certain types of sentences you should use "poiché", and in other types of sentences you should use "perché".

I'll give you an example right away, so that you understand.

First I'll give you an example sentence with "perché".

"Non sono uscito perché pioveva".

Now let's try to rephrase this sentence using the word "poiché". Now I'll give you an example using the word "poiché" the right way, that is, using "poiché" the way this word should be used.

"Poiché pioveva, non sono uscito".

Basically, with respect to their general meaning, these two sentences, the sentence with "perché" and the sentence with "poiché", have the same meaning. It's not that one sentence means something, and the other means something else. They mean the same thing.

However, there is an important difference, namely: "perché" is used when the causal clause, (the clause pointing to the reason), follows the main clause. In fact my example was: "Non sono uscito perché pioveva".

First there's the clause "non sono uscito", next "perché", and next "pioveva". "Non sono uscito perché pioveva". The word order is this. Main clause - "perché" - "pioveva".

In my second example, instead, the sentence follows the opposite pattern. That is, it starts with the causal clause: "poichè pioveva, non sono uscito". So first we have the clause pointing to the reason, and then the main clause: "Poiché pioveva, non sono uscito".

So what's the difference? The order of the clauses.

At this point it should be noted that I can't use "perché" at the beginning of the sentence. Meaning that I can't say: "Perché pioveva non sono uscito". This sentence is wrong, don't say that. "Perché" can only be used when the causal clause follows the main clause. So you can't say: "Perché pioveva, non sono uscito".

But that's not the error I wanted to talk about in this video. Also because people usually don't make this mistake.

People usually make the opposite mistake. Namely, foreigners who study Italian use "poiché" in sentences which actually require "perché". So they may say things such as: "Non sono uscito poiché pioveva".

Alright! Although strictly speaking this is not a grammatical error, and some people may say it isn't even an error, "poiché" used this way sounds really awkward in today's Italian.

That is, people used to talk like this in the 19th century. The conjunction "poiché" in place of "perché" sounds old-fashioned. In today's Italian, most people say: "Non sono uscito perché pioveva". They don't say: "Non sono uscito poiché pioveva". This sentence sounds really old-fashioned.

The conjunction "poiché" itself is an old-fashioned word, if you will. In other words, whenever I hear a non-native speaker saying: "Non sono uscito poiché..." - as soon as I hear "poiché", I realize that he or she is using a completely inappropriate word.

Because, from the point of view of grammar - ok, it's fine. However, people used to say "poiché" in the 19th century, nowadays they say "perché".

In today's Italian, the conjunction "poiché" can still be used but, like I said, only at the beginning. I mean at the beginning of a sentence: "Poiché pioveva, non sono uscito". Such usage is acceptable.

I personally find, like many people, that the word "poiché" looks really old-fashioned, archaic. Personally, I hardly use it. Even in sentences such as "Poiché pioveva, non sono uscito", I prefer to replace "poiché" with other words.

For example, I like to say: "Visto che pioveva, non sono uscito". Or: "Dal momento che pioveva, non sono uscito". Although "dal momento che" is a longer phrase, it still feels less "heavy", because the word "poiché" is somewhat old-fashioned and archaic.

Personally, I suggest that you don't ever use the conjunction "poiché". At all. Even if it would be at the beginning of a sentence - in this case you might want to use "visto che", or "dal momento che", or "considerato che". My favourite phrase is quite possibly "visto che", because it's the shortest as well.

But above all, please, I beg you, don't use the conjunction "poiché" in place of "perché" in a causal clause following the main clause. So please, I beg you, don't say things such as: "Non sono uscito poiché pioveva". Because it really sounds like a sentence from the 19th century.

In other words, if you speak Italian really well, but then you say "poiché" instead of "perché", everybody will realize that there's something weird. I mean, that you used the wrong word.

But let's do another real-world example!

"Sono tornato a casa perché stavo male".

As you can see, here I have the main clause and next the causal clause, so I have used the conjunction "perché": "Sono tornato a casa perché stavo male".

What mistake could people make? A mistake could be using "poiché", that is: "Sono tornato a casa poiché stavo male".

Like I said, from a grammatical and strictly technical point of view, this sentence is right. But it sounds like a really old-fashioned sentence.

If you build the sentence differently, then you could easily use "poiché". You should say: "Poiché stavo male, sono tornato a casa".

What's the difference? The order of the clauses.

Anyway, like I said, I wouldn't say: "Poiché stavo male, sono tornato a casa". Because in general I don't like the word "poiché". Or rather, it's not that I don't like it, but I perceive it as an old-fashioned word. You can ask other Italians too, and they will probably tell you the same thing.

Therefore, instead of saying "poiché stavo male", I would say: "Visto che stavo male, sono tornato a casa".

I'll give you another example sentence which sounds awkward: "Stasera devo tornare a casa presto poiché domani mi devo svegliare alle sei".

In this case you should say, or it would be better to say: "Stasera devo tornare a casa presto perché domani mi devo svegliare alle sei".

Let's do another example with a sentence which sounds awkward.

"Guarda, ti aiuterei, ma non posso fermarmi poiché sono di fretta".

What should we say? "Non posso fermarmi perché sono di fretta".

To conclude, we have seen that there are two words, "perché" and "poiché", which are very specific. Meaning that "perché" is used in certain cases, whereas the conjunction "poiché" can be used in other cases.

We have seen that "perché" is used when the causal clause follows the main clauses, and can't be possibly used when the causal clause preceedes the main clause. Never ever say: "Perché stavo male, sono tornato a casa". Because this sentence is completely wrong, the conjunction "perché" can't be used at the beginning of an affirmative clause.

Next, we have seen that, by contrast, the word "poiché", should be used at the beginning of the sentence, if the causal clause preceeds the main clause. So we have seen that the word "poiché" should be used in sentences such as: "Poiché stavo male, sono tornato a casa". Or: "Poiché pioveva, non sono uscito".

The error I explained lies in using "poiché" when the causal follows the main clause That is, using "poichè" instead of "perché".

This is not a mistake from a grammatical or technical point of view, but it's an error related to style, it's a bad mistake related to style. Because "poiché" used this way belongs to the 19th century standard. That is, in the 19th century, people spoke like this. Then, in today's Italian "poiché" has remained only as a conjunction to be used at the beginning of the sentence.

"Perché" used at the beginning of the sentence is a grammatical error, it's just wrong, you can't do that, it shouldn't be done. End of the story. But in any case I can see that nobody does that.

Instead, the word "poiché" used when the causal clause follows the main clause - that's not a grammatical mistake. In theory, people did that in the 19th century, whereas in today's Italian they no longer do that.

True, you can do that. People will still understand you, but there's the shade of meaning I mentioned. That is, the sentence sounds really awkward. It sounds old-fashioned.

In a nutshell, and to conclude, to recap what I have said so far... what's the message to take home? It's this: don't use "poiché" instead of "perché".

If you have a causal clause, use "perché", because this is what 95% of Italians would do.

If you really like the word "poiché", please remember that it should be used at the beginning of the sentence.

I also told you that in general I don't like the conjunction "poiché", even in these cases. I prefer to say "visto che", "dal momento che", which are phrases that don't sound old-fashioned.

Well, that is it! I hope that you have found this video helpful.

That being said - Till next time!

And may the Force of Advanced Italian be with you!