Existentialism is at the core of French philosophy, and knowing how to ask the question “Why?” is at the heart of French culture. To say “why” in French, you would say pourquoi. While that literally translates to “for what,” it’s the universal expression for “why” in French. Want to answer “because”? Then you’d generally use the phrase parce que, although there are nuanced variants of that—including car (informal) and à cause de (because of).
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How do you say ‘why’ in French?
The most straightforward way to ask “Why?” in French is pourquoi ? (note that there is a space before the question mark as is normal for this French punctuation mark).
- Pourquoi es-tu comme ça ? = Why are you like that?
- Pourquoi a-t-il neigé hier ? = Why did it snow yesterday?
It’s common to use inversion in French after a question word. To ask “Why not?” in French, simply use the phrase pourquoi pas (or even just pourquoi on its own.)
Other translations of ‘why’ in French
If you are having a heated debate, you may want to use an interjection that translates to “why” in English:
- Mais bien sûr, je l’ai vu ! = Why of course, I saw it!
- Eh bien, non ! = Why, no!
These are useful phrases to add to your French conversations.
How to say ‘because’ in French
The most common answer to the question pourquoi ? is parce que (because).
- J’étais en retard parce que j’ai raté le train. = I was late because I missed the train.
- Il l’a fait parce qu’il voulait le faire ! = He did it because he wanted to!
- Nous n’avons pas dîné parce que le restaurant était fermé. = We didn’t eat dinner because the restaurant was closed.
You can also use car interchangeably with parce que, it is just slightly less formal.
- Elle a dit que c’était car elle était en panne. = She said it was because she had car trouble.
In English, we simply add “of” to “because” to form the phrase “because of.” In French, it is an entirely different phrase: à cause de. The expression en raison de (due to) can also apply in this situation.
- À cause de la pluie, on fera le tour demain. = Because of the rain, we will walk around tomorrow.
There is also the expression grâce à, which means “thanks to.” This can have a bit of a negative connotation, like in English.
- Grâce à ma prof, j’ai beaucoup de devoirs. = Thanks to my teacher, I have lots of homework.
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If you’re ready to become a French existentialist, or just simply want to learn more than how to ask “Why?” Rosetta Stone is here to help. Whatever your goals are for learning the language, you should carefully consider a language learning program built with your goals in mind. Rosetta Stone’s fully immersive approach focuses on contextualizing learning, so you learn to speak the language without rote memorization alone.
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