～から
because / since
～から attaches to the end of a reason and means “because” or “so”. The reason comes first, then から, then the result, the opposite of the usual English order.
Be careful: this is not the same から as in 東京から (“from Tokyo”). Directly after a noun, から means “from”; after a full statement (a verb, an adjective, or a noun + だ), it means “because”.
1. Stating why
Put the reason before から and the conclusion after it. Compared with the similar pattern ～ので, ～から sounds more direct and personal. It is the everyday way to explain yourself.
忙しいから行けない。
“I can’t go because I’m busy.”
- 忙しい（いそがしい）= busy
- から = because (reason marker)
- 行けない（いけない）= cannot go
2. Reason first, result second
In longer sentences, think of から as “so”: everything before it is the reason, and everything after it is what you decided or what happened as a result.
明日はテストがあるから、今日は早く寝ます。
“I have a test tomorrow, so I’ll go to bed early today.”
- 明日（あした）= tomorrow
- は = topic marker
- テスト = test
- が = subject marker
- ある = there is
- から = because / so
- 今日（きょう）= today
- 早く（はやく）= early
- 寝ます（ねます）= will go to bed
How to form it
Plain statement + から (nouns and な-adjectives take だから). The polite form also works before から, as in 忙しいですから.
- 忙しい（いそがしい）= busy → 忙しいから（いそがしいから）= because (I) am busy
- 行く（いく）= to go → 行くから（いくから）= because (I) am going
- 学生だ（がくせいだ）= is a student → 学生だから（がくせいだから）= because (I) am a student
Key idea
から points back at the reason you just said. Say the reason, add から, then say what follows from it: reason + から + result.
Other N5 grammar
Updated .