wessentwegen
German edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
wessentwegen
- (formal, dated) because of whom
- Wessentwegen warten all die Fotografen vor dem Hotel?
- Because of whom are all those photographers waiting in front of the hotel?
Usage notes edit
Formal standard German generally requires the genitive case with wegen ("because of"), but the dative case must be used whenever an adequate genitive form does not exist. Since wessentwegen now has an old-fashioned and possibly pedantic ring to it, the dative construction wegen wem is acceptable in formal writing. One might, however, prefer to rephrase a particular sentence so as to avoid both.
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “wessentwegen” in Duden online