what is the difference between 于是 and 所以 in Chinese? They both mean 'so'..but what's the difference?
My book says 所以 is "causal" while 于是 is "sequential" but I'm still confused..?
Update:so...another question: can you ever substitute one for another?
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所以 is more like.. "because"; because so-and-so happened.
于是 is like "and so more"; and so it's more like this that so-and-so.
'æ以' is the word to introduce the reason, it is roughly equal to 'because'; 'äºæ¯' literally means 'from this' (I guess). It suggests something B happens after A, and A may or may not be one of the reason why B happened. For me, it is like the mixture of 'upon doing something above' and 'as a result'.
And No, they cannot be used interchangeably. Consider the following:
“äºæ¯(yúshì)” indicates some results which are just next to the last thing and caused by it. It can also be “äºæ¶(yúshÃ)”, and it used as a conjunction to express sequential relation. For example: “ä¸ç¥ç·ç说äºä¸å¥ä»ä¹è¯ï¼äºæ¯å¥³çå°±ç¬äºã(bù zhÄ« nán de shuÅ le yà jù shénme huà , yúshì nÇ de jiù xià o le.)” “æ以(suóyÇ)” indicates cause and effect relation and it is always used with “å 为(yÄ«nwèi)”. For example: “å 为天ä¸é¨äºï¼æ以ä¸å¥½æ车ã(yÄ«nwèi tiÄn xià yÇ le, suóyÇ bù hÇo dÇ chÄ .)”
æ 以 is used when you can substitute "so" with "that's why".
äº æ¯ can be used to substitute "as a result".
"that's why" and "therefore"...