потому что
Russian
Etymology
- See потому́ (potomú) and что (što). A possible English gloss is "by the fact that".
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [pətɐˈmu‿ʂtə] (phonetic respelling: потому́што)
- IPA(key): [pətɐˈmu ʂto] (phonetic respelling: потому́ што)
Audio (file)
Conjunction
потому́ что • (potomú što)
- because
Usage notes
- The coordinate question is usually served by почему́ (počemú).
- Unlike English because, Russian потому что can never govern an introductory clause (e.g. English "Because I was early, I had to wait"). For that, поско́льку (poskólʹku), та́к как (ták kak) and other conjunctions must be used. This separation of usage is not general to Russian conjunctions and is rather a peculiarity of a few including this one.
Synonyms
- оттого́ что (ottovó što)