со тоа што / при што

Adding a Detail

Level 5Sounds Like so toa što; pri što

Со тоа што = by (doing) or with the note that: Ми помогна со тоа што ми ги позајми белешките. (He helped me by lending me his notes.) При што = in which, during which: Се случи несреќа, при што беа повредени двајца луѓе. (There was an accident in which two people were injured.)

How It Works

Со тоа што: by, in that. The clause says how something was done or what makes something different:

  • Ми помогна со тоа што ми ги позајми белешките. (He helped me by lending me his notes.)
  • Овој телефон се разликува од стариот со тоа што има подобра камера. (This phone differs from the old one in that it has a better camera.)

English uses an -ing form here (by lending), but Macedonian needs a full clause with што and a verb with a person ending.

Со тоа што: with the note that. After a comma, со тоа што can add a detail that limits or adjusts the main statement, much like "but" or "only":

  • Ќе дојдам, со тоа што ќе задоцнам малку. (I will come, but I will be a little late.)
  • Тестовите се готови, со тоа што резултатите ќе ги добиете утре. (The tests are done, but you will get the results tomorrow.)

При што: in which, during which. При means "during, in the course of", and што stands for the whole previous clause. The при што clause adds what happened as part of that event, and a comma comes before it:

  • Се случи сообраќајна несреќа, при што беа повредени двајца луѓе.
  • Гласаа осумдесет пратеници, при што шеесет беа за. (Eighty MPs voted, and sixty of them were in favour.)

При што belongs to news reports and formal writing. In conversation, a new sentence or и does the same job.

Related forms. Со што (whereby, and so) also refers back to a whole clause: Тој раскажуваше многу интересно, со што го привлече вниманието на сите. (He told the story in a very interesting way, and so caught everyone's attention.) Other prepositions join тоа што in the same way, as in поради тоа што (because); see тоа што and тоа дека.

Examples (6)

  1. Ми помогна со тоа што ми ги позајми белешките.

    He helped me by lending me his notes.

    Word by Word: To-me helped with that what to-me them lent notes-the.

  2. Овој телефон се разликува од стариот со тоа што има подобра камера.

    This phone differs from the old one in that it has a better camera.

    Word by Word: This phone itself differs from old-the with that what has better camera.

  3. Ќе дојдам, со тоа што ќе задоцнам малку.

    I will come, but I will be a little late.

    Word by Word: Will I-come, with that what will I-be-late a-little.

    Со тоа што adds a detail that limits the promise.

  4. Тестовите се готови, со тоа што резултатите ќе ги добиете утре.

    The tests are done, but you will get the results tomorrow.

    Word by Word: Tests-the are ready, with that what results-the will them you-get tomorrow.

  5. Се случи сообраќајна несреќа, при што беа повредени двајца луѓе.

    There was a traffic accident in which two people were injured.

    Word by Word: Itself happened traffic accident, during which were injured two people.

  6. Гласаа осумдесет пратеници, при што шеесет беа за.

    Eighty MPs voted, sixty of them in favour.

    Word by Word: Voted eighty MPs, during which sixty were for.

Common Mistakes

  • Using да instead of што to say how something was done.

    Ми помогна со тоа да ми ги позајми белешките.
    Ми помогна со тоа што ми ги позајми белешките.

    The lending really happened, so it is a fact clause with што. A да clause would present it as something wanted or planned.

How It Connects

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со тоа што / при штоLevel 5Adding a Detail

Learn This First

Adding a detail follows besides the fact that.

Words in This Pattern

со тоа штопри