Causal clauses in German: How to use ‘weil,’ ‘da,’ ‘denn,’ and similar words?

In German, the words weil, da, and denn all mean “because” and can introduce causal clauses (or “reason clauses”). A causal clause is a phrase with a subject and a verb that expresses why something happened.

Words like weil, da, and denn, that introduce causal clauses are known as “causal conjunctions” or “conjunctions of reason.”

In this post, we’ll take you through how to use these three words in causal clauses, then talk about another pair of words you can use to discuss cause-and-effect deshalb / weshalb (meaning that's why), which introduce the effect of a situation instead. Ready to learn how to express causality? Let’s have a look!

Causal clauses are a type of subordinate clause that describes the reason or cause for that main situation (the “main clause”). Like other subordinate clauses, causal clauses are there to support the main idea of a sentence rather than standing on their own.

There are a few grammatical rules that most German subordinate clauses will follow, including causal clauses:

• Subordinate clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions. Causal clauses are usually introduced by weil, da, and denn. We’ll talk more about these below!

• The conjugated verb always comes at the end of a subordinate clause. Compare:

  conjugated verb

  Katzen haben Angst vor Gurken.

  Translation: Cats are afraid of cucumbers.

  In a main clause, the verb comes second.

  Ich war überrascht, weil die Katze Angst vor der Gurke hatte.

  Translation: I was surprised because the cat was afraid of the cucumber.

  In a subordinate clause, the verb comes last.

• In a subordinate clause, the two parts of a separable-prefix verb (the prefix and verb) are combined and at the end:

  separable prefixconjugated verb

  Wir ärgern uns über unseren Vermieter, weil er immer so spät am Abend anruft.

  Translation: We get annoyed by our landlord because he always calls so late in the evening.

• Like most kinds of subordinate clauses, causal clauses can be moved forward for emphasis, so that they come before the main clause instead.

  conjugated verb

  Weil ich Spätschicht habe, kann ich morgen ausschlafen.

  Translation: Because I work nightshift, I can sleep in tomorrow.

  Remember, though, that when a subordinate clause comes first, that counts as the first “element” of the main clause, and so the subordinate clause is immediately followed by the conjugated verb of the main clause (in this case kann). Check out our post on German word order for more discussion of this!

If you’ve mastered the basic rules around German subordinate clauses, causal clauses should be easy to learn! Just learn about some special features of the three main causal conjunctions weil, da, and denn!

The main causal conjunctions in German are weil, da, and denn, which all translate to “because” or “since.” Weil is probably the most basic causal conjunction in German, but you’ll hear the other two used as well.

• weil (meaning because) → a common, basic, and standard “because”

  causal conjunctionconjugated verb

  Ich kann morgen ausschlafen, weil ich Spätschicht habe.

  Translation: I can sleep in tomorrow, because I have a nightshift.

• Da (meaning because, since, as) → a more formal “because”

  causal conjunctionconjugated verb

  Da ich Spätschicht habe, kann ich morgen ausschlafen.

  Translation: Since I have a nightshift, I can sleep in tomorrow.

  Here are three things to consider, when you use da:

  1. Da is used more like “as” or “since.” It’s a little more formal and elegant than weil.

  2. Causes introduced with da often come before the main clause.

  3. You’re more likely to hear da introduce information that is more of an afterthought, either because it is not very significant or because it is already known. However, this is more of a tendency though and not a hard rule.

• Denn (meaning because, for) → the coordinating conjunction of reason!

  Unlike the other causal conjunctions, the word order of the clause introduced by denn is the same as the order in a main clause — rather than coming at the end, the verb is the second element after denn:

  causal conjujnctionconjugated verb

  Mein Chef ist unzufrieden, denn ich war heute schon wieder unpünktlich.

  Translation: My boss is unhappy because I was late again today.

  This is the same word order we see with coordinating conjunctions like und (meaning and), and like coordinating conjunctions, denn cannot start a sentence.

In German, weshalb and deshalb are both conjunctions of consequence, meaning “that’s why” or “so.” Conjunctions of consequence introduce clauses describing the result, consequence, or effect, of a situation, rather than the cause.

Compare the use of weshalb and deshalb to the use of the causal conjunction weil that we introduced above.

• causal conjunctionconjugated verb

  Unsere Hochzeit wurde abgesagt, weil die Kirche abgebrannt ist.

  Translation: Our wedding was canceled because the church burned down.
• conjugation of consequenceconjugated verb

  Die Kirche ist abgebrannt, weshalb unsere Hochzeit abgesagt wurde.

  Translation: The church burned down, which is why our wedding was canceled.

  When using weshalb, use the subordinate clause word order, with the verb at the end.
• conjugation of consequenceconjugated verb

  Die Kirche ist abgebrannt, deshalb wurde unsere Hochzeit abgesagt.

  Translation: The church burned down, so our wedding was canceled.

  When using deshalb, use the main clause word order, with the verb in second position, after deshalb!

Don’t forget to take note of the word order difference between weshalb and deshalb! In fact, because deshalb connects main clauses, you’ll often see it connect two completely separate sentences!

If you ever have to talk about causality in German, now you have the necessary tools in your linguistic toolbox. Let’s now look at the different variations on the sentence we originally saw in the introduction:

And if you want to get some practice, check out our German causal clauses exercises!