English

Etymology

Originally two words, corresponding to by + cause, modelled on Old French par cause.

Pronunciation

• qualifier stressed
  • a UK /bɪˈkɒz/, /bI"kQz/
  • a US /bɪˈkɔz/|/bɪˈkʌz/, /bI"kOz/|/bɪ"kVz/
• qualifier unstressed
  • /bɪkəz/, /bIk@z/

• Rhymes: -ɒz

• Hyphenation: be·cause

Adverb

1. For the reason (that).
   • 1611: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. — Genesis 2.iii (King James Bible)
2. On account (of).

   I ruined my life because of you!

Conjunction

because

1. By or for the cause that; on this account that; for the reason that.

   I hid myself because I was afraid.

Translations

• Albanian: sepse
• Afrikaans: omdat; aangesien
• Arabic: (li’ánna), (bi-sábab), (colloquial)
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܡܛܠ (meṬul)

  Hebrew: מטל (meṬul)

• Breton: peogwir, abalamour ma, en abeg ma, rak ma
• Bulgarian: защото (zaštoto), тъй като (tǎj kato), понеже (poneže)
• Catalan: perquè, ja que, car, puix, puix que
• Chinese: 因为 (yīnwèi), 由于 (yóuyú)
• Czech: protože
• Danish: fordi
• Dutch: omdat, aangezien, daar (formal)
• Esperanto: ĉar
• Finnish: koska, sillä, siksi
• French: parce que, car, en raison Note: of these, only parce que is common in spoken French.
• West Frisian: meidat, omdat
• German: weil, denn, da
• Greek: διότι (ðioti), επειδή (epiðí), γιατί (yiatí)
• Hebrew: כי (ki); בגלל (biglál)
• Hungarian: mert
• Icelandic: vegna þess
• Indonesian: karena, sebab
• Italian: perché
• Japanese: なぜなら, だって
• Korean: -이기 때문에 (-igi ttaemune)
• Kurdish: çimkî, ji ber ku, ,
• Latin: quia, quod, quoniam, cum, propter
• Malay: karena, sebab
• Old English: þæs, þæs þe, forþon þe
• Pitjantjatjara: -nguru, -languru, panya
• Polish: bo, ponieważ, z powodu, dlatego że, gdyż
• Portuguese: porque, já que
• Romanian: pentru că, din cauză că, datorită
• Russian: потому что (potomú što), так как (ták kak), поскольку (poskól’ku), ведь (ved’), ибо (íbo)
• Slovak: pretože
• Slovene: ker
• Spanish: porque, ya que
• Swedish: därför att, eftersom
• Turkish: çünkü
• Ukrainian: бо (bo), тому (tomu), тому що (tomu ščo), так як (tak jak), оскiльки (oskil’ky), адже (adže), внаслiдок (vnaslidok), унаслiдок (unaslidok)
• Vietnamese: tại vì, vì, bởi vì

Synonyms

• therefore
• since
• for
• as
• inasmuch as
• ∵ (mathematics symbol)

Related terms

• why
• because of (prepositional phrase)
• 'cos

Because is often used in connection with causality.

The mathematical symbol for "because" is \because

Artistic works entitled Because:

• "Because" (Perry Como song)
• "Because" (The Beatles song)
• "Because", a song by the Dave Clark Five
• Because (film), a 1990 Tom Tykwer short film

as, as long as, as things go, being, being as how, cause, considering, for, forasmuch as, in that, inasmuch as, insofar as, insomuch as, now, parce que, seeing, seeing as how, seeing that, since, whereas