Neutral causes with "debido a" and "a causa de"
When attributing causes formally—such as in a public health report explaining an outbreak—Spanish uses specific prepositional phrases.
Debido a (due to) and a causa de (because of) are neutral, professional ways to link an event to its cause (a noun). Remember that if debido a is followed by the masculine singular article el, the preposition and article contract to form al.
| The report confirms food poisoning due to the meat. | El informe confirma una intoxicación alimentaria debido a la carne. |
| The outbreak occurred due to the inadequate handling of the meat. | El brote ocurrió debido al manejo inadecuado de la carne. |
| The health emergency started because of a dirty restaurant. | La emergencia sanitaria empezó a causa de un restaurante sucio. |
Assigning blame with "por culpa de"
To emphasize that a cause is responsible for a negative outcome, use por culpa de. This translates as "because of," but carries a negative connotation, literally meaning "by fault of."
| There are many sick people because of improper hygiene. | Hay mucha gente enferma por culpa de una higiene inadecuada. |
| The hospital is full because of the dirty restaurant. | El hospital está lleno por culpa del restaurante sucio. |
Positive outcomes with "gracias a"
Conversely, when attributing a positive result to a helpful cause (like a health inspection or medical intervention), use gracias a (thanks to).
| Our health improved thanks to the inspection. | Nuestra salud mejoró gracias a la inspección. |
| Thanks to prevention, we can avoid a severe crisis in the hospital. | Gracias a la prevención, podemos evitar una crisis grave en el hospital. |
Linking to verbs with "que"
All the connectors above are followed by nouns. If you need to link the cause to a full clause—meaning you are introducing a subject and a conjugated verb—you must add the word que.
Adding this creates phrases like debido a que (due to the fact that / because) and gracias a que (thanks to the fact that), allowing you to describe complex events and actions as causes.
| The health report is bad due to the fact that food safety failed. | El informe sanitario es malo debido a que la seguridad alimentaria falló. |
| Thanks to the fact that there was an inspection, the bacteria did not spread more. | Gracias a que hubo una inspección, la bacteria no se propagó más. |
