Spanish · Chapter 29 · Lesson 6 · Grammar primer
Connectors cause
On the AQA A-level grammar list.
The short version
Como means because only at the front
When como carries the sense of because, it has to open the sentence and state the reason before the result: como llovĂa, no salimos. You cannot slide it into the middle with that meaning, where it would read as how or like. Put the reason second and you switch to porque: no salimos porque llovĂa.
Como llovĂa, no salimos.
Cause states a fact, purpose points at a goal
Porque, ya que, como, por eso, asĂ que and por lo tanto all state facts, so they take the indicative. Purpose connectors point at a goal that has not happened yet, so para que, a fin de que and con el fin de que take the subjunctive. Getting that mood wrong is an instant giveaway.
Te lo explico para que lo entiendas.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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Lesson 6 of 11 in this chapter