To connect two ideas together in a single sentence, English speakers can use “so…” The Mandarin Chinese equivalent of “so” is suǒyǐ.

Suǒyǐ can also be used as a pause when gathering your thoughts, similar to the English use of the drawn-out “so…” which is common in daily conversation.

Suǒyǐ has two characters: 所以. The first one, suǒ, means “actually,” and the second character, yǐ, means “according to,” or “to use”.

The second character of suǒyǐ is the same as the second character of 可以 (kěyǐ) - “permitted to.”

Examples of Suǒyǐ
 
    Wǒ zài dúshū, suǒyǐ wǒ xiànzài méiyǒu shíjiān.
    我在讀書,所以我現在沒有時間｡
    我在读书,所以我现在没有时间｡
    I’m in the middle of studying, so I don’t have any free time now.

    Wǒ yào qù Táiwān suǒyǐ wǒ cái kěyǐ xué guóyǔ.
    我要去台灣所以我才可以學國語｡
    我要去台湾所以我才可以学国语｡
    I’m going to go to Taiwan so I can learn Mandarin.