なぜなら

Japanese

Alternative forms

• なぜならば (naze naraba)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) なぜなら [náꜜzè nàrà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [na̠ze̞ na̠ɾa̠]

Conjunction

なぜなら • (naze nara) 

1. 何故なら: that is because; literally, “if (you ask) why”

   なぜなら古(ふる)いからだ。

   Nazenara furui kara da.

   That is because it's old.

Usage notes

• なぜなら (naze nara) appears at the beginning of a sentence just to signal that a reason is given in the following sentence. It is always paired with some form of "because" at the end of the sentence such as からだ (kara da), から (kara), ので (node) etc., and なぜなら (naze nara) itself is not obligatory. Related to なぜかというと (nazeka to iu to) and somewhat less formal.

See also

• なぜ (naze)
• なら (nara)
• だって (datte)
• ので (node)