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Spanish (Latin America)

### 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**.

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### 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."

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### 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).

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### 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.

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Causal connectors (debido a, a causa de)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and 'to be' (el, la, soy)

Masculine and feminine pairs (el hermano, la hermana)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
the poisoning	la intoxicación
food (adjective, relating to food)	alimentario
The report confirms food poisoning due to the meat.	El informe confirma una intoxicación alimentaria debido a la carne.
health (adjective, relating to healthcare or hygiene)	sanitario
The health emergency started because of a dirty restaurant.	La emergencia sanitaria empezó a causa de un restaurante sucio.
the hygiene	la higiene
improper	inadecuado
There are many sick people because of improper hygiene.	Hay mucha gente enferma por culpa de una higiene inadecuada.
the outbreak	el brote
The food was prohibited because of the outbreak.	Se prohibió la comida a causa del brote.
the inspection	la inspección
thanks to	gracias a
By the time the inspection arrives, we will stop the outbreak thanks to the doctor.	Para cuando llegue la inspección, pararemos el brote gracias al doctor.
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.
The hospital is full because of the dirty restaurant.	El hospital está lleno por culpa del restaurante sucio.
to spread (disease, fire)	propagar
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.
The manager is going around investigating the cause due to the complaints.	El gerente anda investigando la causa debido a las quejas.
The food is inspected here because of the poisoning.	Aquí se inspecciona la comida a causa de la intoxicación.
The patient is still sick because of an improper treatment.	El paciente sigue enfermo por culpa de un tratamiento inadecuado.
The store is closed because of the lack of hygiene.	La tienda está cerrada a causa de la falta de higiene.
Our health improved thanks to the inspection.	Nuestra salud mejoró gracias a la inspección.
The outbreak spreads due to inadequate hygiene.	El brote se propaga debido a la higiene inadecuada.
The outbreak spreads due to a mistake in the kitchen.	El brote se propaga debido a un error en la cocina.
the pathogen	el patógeno
Because of a dangerous pathogen in the cheese, a patient is very sick.	A causa de un patógeno peligroso en el queso, un paciente está muy enfermo.
It is known that the food poisoning continues because of a dirty restaurant.	Se sabe que la intoxicación continúa por culpa de un restaurante sucio.
the prevention	la prevención
Thanks to prevention, we can avoid a severe crisis in the hospital.	Gracias a la prevención, podemos evitar una crisis grave en el hospital.
Due to the fact that the pathogen is from another country, prevention is essential.	Debido a que el patógeno es de otro país, la prevención es esencial.
the handling	el manejo
The outbreak occurred due to the inadequate handling of the meat.	El brote ocurrió debido al manejo inadecuado de la carne.
The inspection failed due to the improper handling of the kitchen.	La inspección falló debido al manejo inadecuado de la cocina.

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