Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vox]

I just learned yesterday

1. 웨냐하면 as 'because'

after months of thinking that Koreans always said

2. 떼문에 at the end of any statement that in English would normally be preceded by 'because'

So now I'm confused.

If the clause is especially long for whatever reason, do Koreans instinctively flip to choice 1 and only use choice 2 for short phrases?

e.g.

A. "Because of the surging costs of fuel and the rise in terrorism stories in the news and due to the global warming effect and the havoc that it's wreaking in the weather systems,

flights to New York have soared in average price by about $700.00"

Is this a 웨냐하면 phrase?

And is this a 떼문에 phrase?

B. "Because of Jimmy,

our bus is stalled and we're all staying over an extra night."

Help!

[maeil]

Hi,

I'm sure some of the more fluent Korean speakers on this board will be able to help you more, but my understanding of 때문에 is to be used mostly for negative reasons, like excuses, or probably both of the examples that you listed. Our chapter on 때문에 in my Korean book used examples like, "I was late for work because I slept too long." "I didn't have any money, so I couldn't buy you a gift."

The best example of 웨냐하면 that I can think of comes from that TV commercial for 오늘의 차 when the handsome, athletic young man is explaining why he likes the tea so much. That would be a positive reason, and wouldn't call for 때문에.

Like I said though, someone else can probably explain it better.

[Qinella]

For usage tips, try punching something into Google and see how native speakers are using it. I typed in 왜냐하면 and found many examples of that starting a sentence, with 때문이다 ending it.

아내를 주민들(46평 이상만 있는 대형 주상복합아파트 단지)이 서운하게 대했다는 말을 들으면 �갑자기 졸부가 된 사람들이라 그렇지 뭐.�라면서 말을 받아줍니다. 왜냐하면 내 아내이기 때문이죠. 결혼을 했으면 그 책임도 져야 되잖아요.



Interesting note someone pointed out on Galbijim: 왜=why, 냐=question, 하면=if, so 왜냐하면=if you ask why.

[albazalba]

I've found that 왜냐하면 is the way to start a because statement, but it should often end with (으)니까, or 때문에 to complete it. And actually 때문에 is more like "because of", or "due to".

[SPINOZA]

The above poster hinted at this, but I'm fairly sure - in addition to the end/begiining thing - 때문에 is used with nouns only.

일 때문에..... because of work

중요하기 때문에.....because of importance....

For verbs, 어서 or 으니까 go on the end of a clause - 돈 없어서 / because I've no money....

I may be wrong though and there are probably more.

One guy at work begins a sentence with 왜냐하면 seemingly far more than any other Korean I've ever heard at length.

[maeil]

Actually, you can use 때문에 with verbs, but you have to add -기 onto the verb stem immediately before 때문에.

Example:

너무 많이 자기 때문에 학교에 늦깨 도착했어요.

Translation:
I slept too much, so I arrived to school late.

[It's been months since I've studied Korean, so please don't flame me if my spelling is off ]

[out of context]

왜냐하면, literally translated, means "If you ask why...". From the example Qinella found, 왜냐하면 내 아내이기 때문이죠, that would be "If you ask why, it's because (she's) my wife (naturally)." The 왜냐하면 and -기 때문이다 constructions are often used together, but to do so is pretty much redundant. ~때문에 is better translated as "because of..." followed by a noun, although it can be used with a verb in the -기 form.

I'm pretty sure that there are some lazy teachers or textbook writers out there informing Korean learners that 왜냐하면 = "because", when a better translation would be "That's because..."

[PeteJB]

Still, the best way to learn the differences is watch Korean movies or dramas. You might not learn a lot without using subtitles, but you'll have a good grasp of the "natural" sound and structure allowing you to later put all the pieces together.

[Qinella]

adding 기 makes it a noun, kind of like making a gerund or infinitive in English, right?

[out of context]