weil

German

Etymology

From the accusative of Middle High German wīle, from Old High German wīla, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaɪ̯l/

• Audio

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• Audio (Austria)

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• Rhymes: -aɪ̯l

Conjunction

weil

1. because, given that

   Ich kann nicht kommen, weil ich krank bin.

   I can't come because I'm sick.

Usage notes

• In standard German, weil is a subordinating conjunction and links a subordinate clause with the conjugated verb in the final position: Sie hat den Zug verpasst, weil sie schon wieder verschlafen hat. (“She missed the train because she overslept yet again.”) At the beginning of a sentence, some style guides prefer replacing weil with da: Da sie schon wieder verschlafen hat, hat sie den Zug verpasst.
• In spontaneous speech, weil is also used as a coordinating conjunction by linking a second independent clause with the conjugated verb in the second position: Sie hat den Zug verpasst, weil sie hat schon wieder verschlafen. Here, weil functions similarly to denn: Sie hat den Zug verpasst, denn sie hat schon wieder verschlafen. In writing which imitates speech (such as texting), this same phenomenon can be observed.
• It is possible that weil is currently undergoing a process of re-grammaticalization in which it can be used like da or denn; that is, as a subordinating or coordinating conjunction. From 1955 to 1974, only 8.3% of weil-clauses in spontaneous speech were verb-second, yet by 1993 to 2000, this had increased to 46.6%. If such a process is underway, it is far from complete: Usage of weil as a coordinating conjunction with a verb-second word order remains nonstandard and is virtually non-existent in formal written German.

References

Further reading

• “weil” in Duden online
• “weil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache