Joseph
September 17, 2019, 5:41pm
6
Ah, sorry about that, @freespiritphotos . Fortunately, @nicolebgarcia saved the day. The explanation she found is good, it’s just skewed towards Brazilian Portuguese (and actually, so is the Instagram post, I just realized
Por quê (two words, with circumflex accent on ‘e’) is not really used in European Portuguese. It’s more of a Brazilian Portuguese thing, where it appears at the end of an indirect or direct interrogative phrase. In EU Portuguese, we would rather use porquê (one word, with circumflex accent) in that case:
Interrogação direta: A Eline não chegou ainda, porquê ? = Eileen didn’t arrive yet, why?
Interrogação indireta: A Eline não chegou ainda, ninguém sabe porquê . = Eileen didnt arrive yet, no one knows why.
Porquê / Porquês (one word, with an accent circumflex on the ‘e’) is also the right way to form the noun in both European and Brazilian Portuguese. It is easy to spot, since it will always be preceded by an article: o, a, os, as, da, das, do, das, na, nas, no, nos, etc., demonstrative pronoun ( este, estes ), or an adjective:
Desconhece-se o porquê da ausência do Marcos. = The reason for Marcos’s absence is unknown.
O estudo dos porquês é interessante. = The study of the whys is interesting.
Os estudantes defrontam-se com muitos porquês . = Students are faced with lots of whys .
Por que (two words, no accent) can be used in one situation in EU Portuguese:
When it could be substituted for: por qual, por quais, pelo qual, pela qual, pelos quais, pelas quais (for what/which) :
Desconhece-se a razão por que (pela qual) o Gui não ligou. = It’s unknown the reason why/for which Guy didn’t call.
Por que (por qual) motivo não vieste? = For what reason didn’t you come?
Porque (one word, no accent) is used in EU Portuguese (1) in direct and indirect interrogative sentences (where it would be two words in BR Portuguese) and (2) when used as a causal conjunction in the sense of because :
Interrogative sentences:Porque (é que) o Gui não ligou ontem? = Why (is it) that Gui didn’t call yesterday?porque (é que) o Gui não ligou ontem. = Nobody knows why (is it) that Gui didn’t call yesterday.
Causality:porque estava fora da cidade. = Guy didn’t call because he was out of town.
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). They write “por quê” and “por que” in cases where we would write it as one word in Portugal. So, here’s a slightly modified explanation that you can definitely use: