Thread: из, из-за, от - defining cause/reason

could somebody (preferably Russian ;p ) explain me the difference between the three? Из, из-за, от это слова, которыйе употребляются дла описания причины. Если я понимаю хорошо, одно их них употребляется, если причина зависимая от тебя, другое - если нет; о третим не знаю ничего :> Когда должно употреблят которое? Please correct my mistakes if you find some major ones

Originally Posted by Odemarken

could somebody (preferably Russian ;p ) explain me the difference between the three? Из, из-за, от это слова, которыйе употребляются дла описания причины. Если я понимаю хорошо, одно их них употребляется, если причина зависимая от тебя, другое - если нет; о третим не знаю ничего :> Когда должно употреблят которое? Please correct my mistakes if you find some major ones

из literally means from
откуда он - из америки
I can't really think of an example in which it would be used to describe why somethiung happened

из за can be roughly translated as because of and is used in a similar way to it
Я не поехал туда из за тебя - I didn't go there because of you
you can't use it with a clause directly you need introductory words, again this is similar to how you say in english "I didn't go there because of the fact that you didn't want me to" rather than because of you didn't want me to (actually here in both cases you just say because which is потому что in Russian)
из за is used to talk about reasons (usually something bad that prevented you from doing something) all the time. - Мы сидим в этом дерьме из за твойе дурости - we're up to our eyebrows in this crap because of your stupidity.

I don't think от is ever really used to introduce the cause of things either. Idiomatically it's used with зависеть ОТ - depend ON. It's also used in the sense of from but in a slightly different meaning than из.
A vehicle travels from point A to point B translates as машина едет ИЗ точки А в точку Б
But who did you hear this nonesene from would be - от кого ты услышал эту пургу?
also it merges with куда in the sense of where from
where'd you get this nonesense from? - ОТкуда ты взял эту пургу?
He was the last person I'd expect this sort of crap treatment from - ОТ него я не когда не ожидал такого дерьмого отношения.
So basicalkly от isn't used for causes and reasons, it's used for sources of treatment, actions information, that sort of thing. The form откуда is also used for sources of movement or travel - откуда приехал этот поезд - он приехал ИЗ Грозного - note how in the reply we say ИЗ for the orginin of travel rather than от even though we use ОТкуда (rather than ИЗкуда) to ask the question

To ask about the cause of something you say
Почему
ИЗ ЗА чего
В чем причина
sometimes some people might say почто
why are you behaving like a pig
1.почему ты ведешь себя как свинья
2.из за чего ты ведешь себы как свинья
3.в чем причина твоего свинского поведения
4.ты почто ведешь себя как свинья
#'s 1 and 4 are more general than #'s 2 and 3, 2 and 3 assume there's one specific reason for this pig behavior. note the word order in # 4, you can say почто ты but with почто the personal pronoune tends to go in front.

hope this helps.

"Из любви к тебе я учу русский язык" - I think it's a good example of using first word for expressing the reason. I would say, it is used instead of "из-за" in cases, where the reason for doing something is a feeling and you want to present it in kinda poetic form
But that's my opinion, based only on examples I could come up with:
из любви
из сострадания
из жалости
Sounds a bit bookish..

And it seems to me like you can easily substitute this word with "от" или "из-за".

Болшое спасибо... So you say the other two are not used to describe reason... not even in some fixed expressions or specific situations? I think I heard it's a bit different when you talk about emotions:
He became pale because of fear (hmm I'm not even sure how to write it in English ;p )
Он сблед из-за страха
или
Он сблед от страха?
или
Он сблед из страха?


Edit: Sorry, Стрекоза, I missed your post... so it looks like there's no real difference :S Maybe someone'll cast new light on the matter...

Он побелел от страха

...I didn't have much hope that I'd get the verb form correct thanks!

из-за used to describe something which had a negative effect on a situation. я опоздал из-за пробки на дорогах.
if you said от любви к тебе я учу русский язык, would that work, or just be wrong???

Originally Posted by Lt. Columbo

из-за used to describe something which had a negative effect on a situation. я опоздал из-за пробки на дорогах.
if you said от любви к тебе я учу русский язык, would that work, or just be wrong???

great finding! из-за really had more negative effect.

OT - can be used in both cases, I think.

Originally Posted by CTPEKO3A

Он побелел от страха

ему взбледнулось от страха.

Originally Posted by CTPEKO3A

"
из любви
из сострадания
из жалости
Sounds a bit bookish..

And it seems to me like you can easily substitute this word with "от" или "из-за".

yeah you're spot on, I totally forgot about those
same as он побледнел от страха. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to generilize on these at this moment. Probly these из + noun expressions that give single noun reasons for why things are done sort of evolved as contractions of из за
As far as от goes, as in тебе будет плохо от этого - you'll feel sick from this, I guess it fills up a borderline niche between reason and origin, you like in certain context the thing that is the source or origin of something is at the same time the cause of it. in english of is sometimes used in this meaning - I'm sick of your whining - меня тошнит от твоего нытья