Breakdown of Siccome il cifrario è difficile, lo decifriamo insieme.
essere
to be
difficile
difficult
insieme
together
lo
it
Questions & Answers about Siccome il cifrario è difficile, lo decifriamo insieme.
What does siccome mean here, and how is it different from perché?
Here, siccome means since / because.
It introduces the reason:
- Siccome il cifrario è difficile = Since the cipher is difficult
- lo decifriamo insieme = we decipher it together
Compared with perché:
- siccome is very often placed at the beginning of the sentence
- perché is more flexible and is especially common after the main clause
So both of these are natural:
- Siccome il cifrario è difficile, lo decifriamo insieme.
- Lo decifriamo insieme perché il cifrario è difficile.
A small nuance: siccome often sounds like the reason is already known or being presented as background.
Why does the sentence start with siccome il cifrario è difficile instead of putting the reason second?
Because siccome very commonly introduces a reason clause at the beginning of the sentence.
So this structure is very natural:
- Siccome + reason, main clause
That gives:
If you want to put the reason after the main clause, Italian more often uses perché, dato che, or poiché rather than siccome.
Why is it il cifrario and not just cifrario?