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)

1. because

   Synonym: оттого́ что (ottovó što)

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.