Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
For example how would you say
I like John, because I think he is charming and attentive.
Is there any other way to say "because" besides of kara (& node)? kara makes the sentence sound like "since John is charming and attentive, I like him". So, is there another way to say "because"?
Would nazenara work for this type of sentence?
I understand why you would want to avoid implying that you wouldn't like John if he weren't charming or attentive. The intention is more like sentence #2:
- John is X, therefore I like him.
- I like John, because he is X (among other reasons).
But when you take more blunt characteristics like “popular and handsome”, wouldn't the two be just as problematic?
Since John is popular and handsome, I like him.
I like John because he is popular and handsome.
A better approach might be to simply say “John is popular, handsome, and I like him.” The correlation/causation is implied in just the right amount to communicate your intention:
Since it was a long day, I'm tired.
I'm tired because it was a long day.
It was a long day, and I'm tired.
This would be constructed as:
ジョンは人気者{にんきもの}だし、かっこいいし、好き。
There are many different ways to express reasons for things just as there are in English -- it all depends on what sort of level of formality and feeling you wish to express.
ジョンのことが好きなんだ。なぜかというと、とてもチャーミングで尽くしてくれるからさ
ジョンのことが大好き！だってものすごいチャ－ミングでいつも私のことを考えてるの
とてもチャーミングだし、尽くしてくれるし、だからジョンのことが好きなんだ
なぜ好きかというと、いつも私のことを考えてるし、とてもチャ－ミングな人なんだよ
Does that help? There are other expressions that could be used like ため, ゆえ or うえ and so on, but for something related to one's emotions they wouldn't feel appropriate IMO.
(I'm not sure why you think kara makes the sentence sound like "since".)
Other than から・ので, there are expressions like 気が利くし素敵だと思うがゆえに私はジョンが好きだ or …思うがために…. However, they sound too bookish for it. から or ので are much better in this regard.
なぜなら is a guiding adverb that leads to a reasoning clause, mainly a から clause, and it's a bookish expression too. As Brandon said, なぜかというと is more casual in that sense. You can use it in combination with a reasoning clause like 「私はジョンが好き(だ)。なぜかというと、気が利くし、いい感じだと思うから(だ)。」. In other words, なぜなら or なぜかというと don't mean "because" by themselves. They can only imply that a reasoning clause would follow.
