Sentence-initial causes (como...)

Expressing Cause with "Como"

You already know that como means "how" or "like." It is also commonly used to mean "since" or "as" when explaining a cause.

To express a cause, place como at the beginning of the sentence. It introduces the reason, followed by a comma, and then the result. (This differs from porque, which typically connects clauses in the middle of a sentence).

Since the server is slow, we need to restart the system.
Como o servidor está lento, precisamos de reiniciar o sistema.
Since the computer has a virus, the system is blocked.
Como o computador tem um vírus, o sistema está bloqueado.

This structure is especially useful when explaining why certain actions are necessary, like when troubleshooting IT issues:

Since the connection dropped, I did not install the update.
Como a ligação caiu, não instalei a atualização.
As the system is full, I cannot install anything.
Como o sistema está cheio, não consigo instalar nada.