XII Putting events into a wider context
79 Giving reasons and purpose
79.1 Giving reasons and explaining why in general terms
(a) For giving reasons and explaining why, the conjunctions denn, weil and da are
used. They are essentially interchangeable.NOTE denn is a co-ordinating conjunction (see 6.1), whereas weil and da are subordinating
conjunctions (see 8.2–8.3).denn ‘for/because/since’
weil ‘because’
da ‘since/because’Ich habe es gemacht, denn es war notwendig.
I did it because it was necessary.Ich habe es gemacht, weil er es wollte.
I did it because he wanted it.Wir haben es geschrieben, da es geschrieben werden musste.
We wrote it because it had to be written.Weil/Da es gesagt werden muss, sage ich es.
Since it has to be said I’ll say it. See^8 (pp. 11–13) for subordinate clauses.
(b) The prepositions wegen and aufgrund are used to apportion blame or
responsibility. Both take the genitive:Wegen des schlechten Wetters mussten die Ausgrabungsarbeiten
unterbrochen werden.
The excavations had to be interrupted because of bad weather.Aufgrund eines Todesfalles in der Familie bleibt das Geschäft heute
geschlossen.
The shop remains closed today because of a death in the family.