Connecting Clauses & Sentences: Overview

English has a small set of all-purpose joining words — and, but, so, because — and you can drop them almost anywhere: mid-sentence, at the start of a new sentence, it barely matters. Japanese does not work like this, and it is one of the first things that makes learners' Japanese sound off even when every word is "correct." Japanese joins ideas in two structurally different places, and it often uses a different word for each: one form clings to the end of a clause to glue it to the next (…から, …が, …ので), and a separate form stands at the head of a brand-new sentence (だから, でも, そして). Pick the right meaning but the wrong slot and the sentence goes stilted. This page maps the two slots so the rest of the Conjunctions group has a frame to hang on.

Two slots, two kinds of connector

Every Japanese connector fills one of two slots:

• Clause connectors attach to the end of a clause — right onto a verb, adjective, or copula — and keep the sentence going. They live inside one sentence, gluing clause A to clause B. Examples: が, から, ので, のに, し, とき, ため.
• Sentence-initial conjunctions stand at the front of a new sentence, after a full stop (。), and open a fresh utterance that comments back on the previous one. Examples: そして, でも, だから, しかし.

Here is the same idea built each way. First, a mid-sentence join — から clings to the reason clause and the sentence rolls on:

Now a sentence-initial join — the reason is its own finished sentence, and だから opens the next one:

And a soft contrast in the clause-final slot — が hangs off the end of the first clause:

Notice where each connector sits. から and が lean backward onto the clause before them, no space, no stop. だから leans forward, opening after the 。 that closed the previous sentence. That physical position — glued to the back of a clause vs standing at the front of a sentence — is the whole distinction.

The same meaning, a different word per slot

This is the point that trips up English speakers hardest: the clause-final connector and the sentence-initial conjunction for "the same" idea are usually not the same word. You can't take から, park it at the front of a sentence, and expect "so." Here is the core map:

Look at the "and" row. Inside a sentence, "and then" is carried by the て-form of the verb (宿題（しゅくだい）をして、寝（ね）た, "did homework and slept"); as a new sentence it becomes そして. Two completely different mechanisms for one English word:

The から / だから trap: the direction reverses

The most important single case is から vs だから, because it isn't just "the same word in two spots" — the logic flips. Clause-final から attaches to the cause ("because X…"); sentence-initial だから (literally だ + から) opens a sentence stating the result ("so, therefore…"). One points at the reason, the other at the consequence.

Same two facts, same causal meaning — but から glues the reason to its result inside one sentence, while だから breaks them into two and points forward from reason to result. Turn to the から page to drill the reason-marking use; just remember here that から is a clause-final cause marker and だから a sentence-initial result opener. They are not interchangeable, and swapping them is a classic learner tell.

Register rides on top of the slot

Choosing the slot is step one; step two is that several connectors come in register pairs doing the same job at different politeness levels. This matters most for "but" and "because":

• "but," clause-final: が (written / formal-spoken) ↔ けど (casual). Same slot, same meaning, different register. See が for soft contrast and けど / けれど / けれども.
• "but," sentence-initial: しかし (formal / written) ↔ でも (casual).
• "because," clause-final: から (neutral, states a reason the speaker asserts) ↔ ので (softer, more objective, common in polite explanations).

ので softens 早退（そうたい）します into a polite, low-key excuse; a blunt から would sound more like you're pressing your reason. That is the second layer every connector page addresses: once you've picked the slot, pick the register.

A note on し and the listing connectors

One clause-final connector worth flagging now is し, which stacks up reasons or parallel facts — "and (what's more)." It piles clauses inside one sentence, often implying "for all these reasons":

し is firmly clause-final; its sentence-initial cousins for "and also / moreover" are それに and また. Don't try to open a sentence with a bare し.

Common mistakes

Mistake 1 — Starting a sentence with a clause-final connector. から, が, and けど can't stand at the head of a new sentence; you need their sentence-initial partner.

Mistake 2 — Using a sentence-initial conjunction mid-clause. でも means "but" only at the head of a sentence; the clause-final "but" is が or けど.

Mistake 3 — Turning だから into a mid-clause "because." The clause-final "because" is bare から, attached to the reason; だから is a separate, sentence-initial word.

Mistake 4 — Grabbing one all-purpose word for every "but." English "but" maps to several Japanese words depending on slot and register; using が in a casual chat sounds bookish.

Key takeaways

• Japanese joins ideas in two slots: clause connectors glued to the end of a clause (mid-sentence) and conjunctions standing at the front of a new sentence.
• The two slots usually take different words — から (clause-final) vs だから (sentence-initial), が/けど vs でも/しかし, て-form/し vs そして.
• The から / だから pair even reverses direction: から marks the cause clause, だから opens the result sentence.
• On top of the slot sits register: が (formal) ↔ けど (casual), しかし (formal) ↔ でも (casual), から ↔ ので.
• Don't grab one all-purpose word — every page in this group labels which slot its connector fills; check that first.