Breakdown of Fratele meu s-a lăsat de fumat fiindcă este un viciu rău.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
un
a / an (m/n)
avea
to have
fratele
the brother
Questions & Answers about Fratele meu s-a lăsat de fumat fiindcă este un viciu rău.
Why do we use de fumat instead of the subjunctive să fumeze to say "smoking"?
Doesn't the verb a lăsa normally mean "to let" or "to leave"?
Yes, in its active form. But here it is used reflexively with the preposition de (a se lăsa de). While you might literally translate it in your head as "he let himself from", it is a fixed idiom meaning "to quit" or "to abandon" a habit.
Is the supine form fumat exactly the same as the past participle?
Exactly. The supine is formed by taking the standard past participle and putting a preposition in front of it (like de, la, or pentru), which allows the verb to act like a noun. In this context, de fumat maps perfectly to the English gerund "smoking".
Are fiindcă and pentru că interchangeable in this sentence?
Yes, fiindcă and pentru că are perfectly interchangeable here to mean "because". Since the reason given is a negative thing (a bad vice), you could also naturally use din cauză că (due to the fact that).