▎於是, yúshì, (Conj), thus, consequently, thereupon

 

Function 於是 is an S2 conjunction, connecting a course of action (effect) motivated by the fact (cause) given in S1.

1 媽媽看小明對音樂很有興趣，於是讓他去學鋼琴。

Māma kàn Xiǎomíng duì yīnyuè hěn yǒu xìngqù, yúshì ràng tā qù xué gāngqín.

Mom noticed Xiaoming taking an interest in music, so she enrolled him in piano lessons.

2 小林覺得這家公司的薪水太低，於是決定換工作。

Xiǎo Lín juéde zhè jiā gōngsī de xīnshuǐ tài dī, yúshì juédìng huàn gōngzuò.

Xiao Lin thought the pay at this company was too low, so he changed jobs.

3 因為小華成績太差了，於是媽媽決定幫他請個家教。

Yīnwèi Xiǎohuá chéngjī tài chā le, yúshì māma juédìng bāng tā qǐng ge jiājiào.

Xiaohua’s marks are so bad that her mom decided to hire a tutor.

4 上個星期才買的手機壞了，於是我拿到手機店要他們換新的給我。

Shàng ge xīngqí cái mǎi de shǒujī huài le, yúshì wǒ ná dào shǒujī diàn yào tāmen huàn xīn de gěi wǒ.

The cell phone I bought just last week stopped working, so I took it back to the store and had them replace it.

 

Usage 於是 vs. 所以

所以 is used in a pure cause/effect relationship. With 於是, S2 is motivated rather than caused by S1. 於是 suggests next in temporal sequence. E.g.,

因為颱風來了，所以／＊於是 房子有好幾個地方壞了，於是／＊所以 我們請人來修理房子。

Yīnwèi táifēng lái le, suǒyǐ／＊yúshì fángzi yǒu hǎojǐ ge dìfāng huài le, yúshì／＊suǒyǐ wǒmen qǐng rén lái xiūlǐ fángzi.

We were hit by a typhoon, so/whereupon the house is damaged in a lot of places. As a result, we have asked someone to come repair the house.