Breakdown of Из-за того что поезд опоздал, мы пропустили начало.
мы
we
поезд
train
начало
beginning
пропустить
to miss (perfective)
опоздать
to be late (perfective)
из-за того что
because (of the fact that)
Questions & Answers about Из-за того что поезд опоздал, мы пропустили начало.
Why use из-за того что instead of just потому что?
While потому что is a neutral way to say "because", из-за того что specifically points to a cause that is an obstacle or leads to a negative result. Since the train being late caused the negative outcome of missing the beginning, из-за того что is the most natural and native-sounding fit here.
Could I put a comma before что in the phrase Из-за того что?
Yes, but it changes the emphasis. Writing Из-за того что without an internal comma treats the whole phrase as a single conjunction block, which is standard when it starts a sentence. If you wrote Из-за того, что, you would be placing heavy spoken stress on the cause itself, as if specifically answering the question "Because of what?"
Why is the verb пропустили used for "missed" here instead of скучали?
English uses the word "miss" for both feeling sad about someone's absence and failing to attend an event. In Russian, these are completely different concepts. You use скучать when you emotionally miss a person or place, but you use пропустить (perfective) when you fail to attend, catch, or participate in something like a train, a meeting, or the start of a show.
Why is опоздал perfective here, even though the English translation uses the continuous state "was late"?
In English, "was late" describes a state of being. In Russian, опоздать is an action meaning "to arrive late." The perfective aspect is used here because the train completed the action of arriving late, and that single completed action directly triggered the consequence of you missing the beginning.
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