Giving reasons
Published
Don't worry, apples are fine but I don't like them as much as this note makes out.
から
When there is one reason for something, you can use から.
- 雨が止んだから、出かけました。
- The rain stopped, so I went out.
- I went outside because the rain stopped, I went outside.
For adjectives, から takes the adjective in a plain tense. That is,
形容詞
Use the plain or plain past forms.
- リンゴがおいしいから、よく食べます。
- I often eat apples because they're tasty.
形容動詞 and nouns
Use the だ or だった to couple the adjective or noun to から in the plain or past form respectively.
- リンゴが好きだから、よく食べます。
- I like apples, so I eat them often.
- I eat apples a lot because I like them.
Verbs
Use verbs in the plain or plain past form. (It would feel more natural to me to use 多かった here, but the following is for demonstration.).
- リンゴがたくさんあったから、10個買いました。
- There were a lot of apples, so I bought 10.
ので
ので feels more polite than から. ので works like から for 形容詞 and verbs.
形容動詞 and nouns
Couple the adjective or noun with a な.
- リンゴが好きなので、よく食べます。
- I like apples, so I eat them often.
- I eat apples a lot because I like them.
し
When there's more than one reason, し can be used to give a complete or incomplete set of reasons. It couples to adjectives, nouns, and verbs in the same way as から. When only one し is used, it may emphasise that more reasons exist but are being omitted.
- リンゴが健康に良いし、好きだし、私はよく食べます。
- Apples are good for you, and I like them, so I often eat them.
- I eat a lot of apples because they're healthy and I ==like= them.