Tip #26

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How to say it in Hebrew
Tip #26

I am often asked ...

... how to say "because" and how to say "because of" - and what's the difference?

Let's think about English for a second - when would we use the first and when would we use the second?
a) "Because of her question I started to think about it."
b) "I started to think of it because she asked".
Can we change them places, use "because" in the first case and "because of" in the second? No, it wouldn't make sense! So what's the different in these two case?

"Because of"

"Because of her question", "because of the rain", "because of the noise" - in all these examples we see that "because of" is always followed by... right, by a noun! :)

So in Hebrew it would be - בִּגְלַל.

בִּגְלַל הַשְּׁאֵלָה שֶׁלָּהּ לֹא הִצְלַחְתִּי לִישֹׁן וְחָשַׁבְתִּי כָּל הַלַּיְלָה - "because of her question I couldn't sleep and was thinking all night through".

בִּגְלַל הַגֶּשֶׁם הֶחָזָק הַטִּיסָה בֻּטְּלָה. - because of the heavy rain the flight was cancelled.

בִּגְלַל הָרַעַשׁ לֹא הִצְלַחְתִּי לִשְׁמֹעַ שׁוּם מִלָּה. Because of the noise I couldn't hear a word.

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Notice the difference - in English it's two words ("because of") and in Hebrew - one! ("בִּגְלַל")

"Because"

"Because she asked", "because you didn't come on time", "because I walked slowly" - all these examples feature which part of speech? Right, a verb!

In Hebrew, this one-word "because" can be expressed in two ways!
1. in two (!) words - -בִּגְלַל שֶׁ
when "she-" is written together with the following word!
2. in one word, written separately - כִּי

סִפַּרְתִּי עַל הַחֹפֶשׁ שֶׁלִּי בִּגְלַל שֶׁהִיא שָׁאֲלָה
סִפַּרְתִּי עַל הַחֹפֶשׁ שֶׁלִּי כִּי הִיא שָׁאֲלָה
"I told about my vocation because she asked"

לֹא עָנִיתִי בִּגְלַל שֶׁלֹּא הָיִיתִי בַּבַּיִת
לֹא עָנִיתִי כִּי לֹא הָיִיתִי בַּבַּיִת"I didn't answer because I wasn't at home"

Now, look at this sentence -
נֶחְמָד פֹּה בַּקַּיִץ בִּגְלַל שֶׁיֵּשׁ פֹּה מַזְגָן
נֶחְמָד פֶּה בַּקַּיִץ כִּי יֵשׁ פֹּה מַזְגָן
"It's nice here in summer because there is an air conditioner here."

You may say - there is no verb in the Hebrew sentence! You are right. If we look at the English sentences though, there is a verb - "is". So in Hebrew, though יש (and אין) are not verbs they function as such and attract בגלל ש- and כי :)

Well, this is it! I think I need to go now, because I have an appointment!
And... which word would you use here? ;)
אֲנִי צְרִיכָה לָלֶכֶת ____ יֵשׁ לִי פְּגִישָׁה
1 - בגלל 2 - בגלל ש-
I hope you've chosen correctly! :)

Stay in touch and happy Hebrew-learning!

Alisa