# Because I love you.



## Laïka Dunkel

Hi !

I would like some help to translate this in German:

-Why did you do this?
-Because I love you...

Thank you


----------



## elroy

-Warum hast du das gemacht?
-Weil ich dich liebe.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Ok, thank you very much elroy  Just so I know: there is no comma between "weil" and "ich"?


----------



## elroy

Not unless you want to indicate a pause in speech.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

thank you


----------



## Kajjo

elroy said:


> Not unless you want to indicate a pause in speech.


No, there is never a comma. Indicating a pause can sometimes indicated by comma, but in very many cases this is not possible. The resulting parts must form proper subclauses at least.

_Weil ich dich liebe!_ <default; no pause; very idiomatic>
_Weil... ich dich liebe!_ <softer pause, subordinate clause continued; more fluent>
_Weil... -- ich liebe dich!_ <strong pause, new main clause started, new idea formed>

Laika: It is a common mistake of English native speaker to insert commas after single words. This is not German style at all. We do not use a comma at these occurences.

_However, I did... = Trotzdem habe ich..._


----------



## elroy

This particular case is different, though, because in English we don't normally put a comma after "because" either.


----------



## Kajjo

That's right. A comma is wrong there in any case, in both languages.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Hi, thank you all 

@Kajjo: actually I am not English but French^^ anyway it is true that in French as in English we use comma a lot. However in French "because" is said "Parce que" and there is no comma after that as well. 

I asked about comma because when I learnt German in high school, I remember that the way sentences were formed was a lot different than in French (or English) especially words are not in the same order, and sometime (or maybe I am mistaken) there were commas to separate words in a sentence, but not in places we are used to, with French or English... 

Anyway, I really wanted the proper way to say "weil ich dich liebe" because it is to be written on a tattoo, so it really has to be correct


----------



## Kajjo

Hm, a tattoo? You want to go for the whole dialogue? Are you aware that "Weil ich dich liebe" is not a proper main clause, but just an subordinate clause? Outside spoken language you wouldn't use this elliptical half-sentence.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

No, not the whole dialogue  and yes I know that because it is the same in French, but I thought that, as in French, it could be a kind of figure of speech. I mean, let's say I tell someone "Because I love you", the rest of the sentence is implicit (_I did this because I love you/Why did you do that?because I love you...)_. I don't know if I made myself clear. Your advice are valuable if German is your mother tongue because I don't want to get a wrong tatoo :-/


----------



## Kajjo

Yes, I agree that "Weil ich dich liebe" is implying the question in the same way as you describe for French. Still, it is a subordinate clause. 

_...weil ich dich liebe!
_
This would make clear that you are aware of it...


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Do you mean that my tatoo would be right (I mean in German) if I added the three dots at the beginning? Is it necessary to add an exclamation point? because it wouldn't fit with the meaning of my tatoo.


----------



## Kruemel

Laïka Dunkel said:


> Do you mean that my tatoo would be right (I mean in German) if I added the three dots at the beginning?


As Kajjo has already pointed out, it's not a whole sentence, it's a fragment. You could also put the three dots at the end: "Weil ich dich liebe...". 

I think I would only put the dots if there was nothing but the writing in the tattoo. If you put other stuff around it (roses, hearts, you name it), I wouldn't care about the dots.

You also don't have to put the exclamation point, put hearts, roses... whatever you like. It's a tattoo, it's a work of art - there are no rules for art. The words and their order are perfectly fine.



Laïka Dunkel said:


> because it wouldn't fit with the meaning of my tatoo.


The meaning? There's another meaning? Or do you just want to avoid making it "look" like shouting?


----------



## Kajjo

Kruemel said:


> You also don't have to put the exclamation point, put hearts, roses... whatever you like. It's a tattoo, it's a work of art - there are no rules for art. The words and their order are perfectly fine.


----------



## Schlabberlatz

1) Leave out the dots.

2) Forget 1) if you want to. But if you include the dots, you should add a space after them if they come at the beginning of the phrase (… weil ich dich liebe!); you should add a space before them if come at the end of the phrase (Weil ich dich liebe …). (No space only applies when you have an incomplete word: Weil ich die lie… Nee, doch nicht, habs mir anders überlegt.) Auslassungspunkte – Wikipedia


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Well, thank you all for your answers it is very kind of you to help me with my tatoo and my very very poor German  



Kruemel said:


> The meaning? There's another meaning? Or do you just want to avoid making it "look" like shouting?



Yes, your second hypothesis is right, it has to be something "quiet", "soft" so I prefer no exclamation point.

I intend to put other things in my tatoo, some drawings and a flower which all are symbols related to the "Weil ich dich liebe" 

If I got it right, I can have the words "weil ich dich liebe" without dots (before or after) if I put drawings with them? do I have to put a capital W or not?

To sum up, imagine you see a tatoo like this: "a flower, some drawings and the words _weil ich dich liebe"_ would it be correct for you as Germans?


----------



## Schlabberlatz

elroy said:


> Weil ich dich liebe.


elroy is right  I’d include the full stop at the end of the phrase. But, as the others have pointed out, you have artistic freedom here. You can leave it out if you want to.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Yes, I know I have some kind of freedom (because it is art and especially because it expresses a personal feeling  ) but I also want something correct, so that if my tatoo is seen by Germans, they will not say "Nice tatoo but the words are wrong" :-/


----------



## elroy

I think as long as you have the words "weil ich dich liebe" in that order, you won't have to worry about any German saying that. 

(There are other things you can play with.  For example, you can capitalize _dich_, you can contract _liebe_ to _liebe'_,...  It all depends on what effect you want to convey.)


----------



## Schlabberlatz

elroy said:


> you can contract _liebe_ to _liebe'_


I don’t see any contraction there  Just kidding, since it’s just a typo. But I wouldn’t contract "liebe" to "lieb’" here anyway. The phrase would lose it’s proper rhythm.


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

elroy said:


> I think as long as you have the words "weil ich dich liebe" in that order, you won't have to worry about any German saying that.


Well I hope so^^ that's why I wasn't sure and why I asked for help here 




elroy said:


> you can capitalize _dich_,


You mean Dich or DICH? 




elroy said:


> It all depends on what effect you want to convey


I know I want something soft and quiet. Actually, I had this idea hearing a song where there is in the middle of it two people talking in German, I don't understand what the man said, but I understood that the woman answered while weeping "weil ich dich liebe". This would be the kind of effect I want. 



To sum up, if I got it right, I can have the words "weil ich dich liebe" without dots (before or after) if I put drawings with them? do I have to put a capital W or not?

Imagine you see a tatoo like this: "a flower, some drawings and the words _weil ich dich liebe"_ would it be correct for you as Germans?


----------



## Frieder

Laïka Dunkel said:


> Imagine you see a tatoo like this: "a flower, some drawings and the words _weil ich dich liebe"_ would it be correct for you as Germans?


Yes


----------



## JClaudeK

Avec toutes ces précautions, le tatoo a intérêt à être bien bien réalisé (je parle des fleurs etc. autour) !


----------



## Kajjo

Laïka Dunkel said:


> You mean Dich or DICH?


_Weil ich Dich liebe
weil ich Dich liebe
weil ich dich liebe_

All three versions are fine. Capitalizing "Dich" is common usage when addressing someone in a letter or personal communication. It's a polite and cordial way.

If you want to include punctuation, the first word must be capitalised:

_Weil ich Dich liebe.
Weil ich dich liebe._


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Frieder said:


> Yes



Thanks  It is really important to me to have something correctly written 






JClaudeK said:


> Avec toutes ces précautions, le tatoo a intérêt à être bien bien réalisé (je parle des fleurs etc. autour) !



Oui, en effet! 
Yes, indeed! 



Kajjo said:


> _
> Weil ich Dich liebe
> weil ich Dich liebe
> weil ich dich liebe_
> 
> All three versions are fine. Capitalizing "Dich" is common usage when addressing someone in a letter or personal communication. It's a polite and cordial way.
> 
> If you want to include punctuation, the first word must be capitalised:
> 
> _Weil ich Dich liebe.
> Weil ich dich liebe._



Thanks for the details   I think my favourite is "weil ich dich liebe" but I hesitate a lot between "Weil ich dich liebe" (that would be a beginning of an explanation) and "weil ich dich liebe ..." or "weil ich dich liebe" (that would be an answer to a question).
(I hesitate also about including a punctuation or not, but it would be "..." anyway, not a full stop) 


Anyhow, thanks again to you all for taking this seriously  my tatoo depends on you


----------



## Kajjo

Laïka Dunkel said:


> (I hesitate also about including a punctuation or not, but it would be "..." anyway


I think dots do not look very good in a tattoo. Maybe the words will do?


----------



## Kruemel

Laïka Dunkel said:


> I think my favourite is "weil ich dich liebe" but I hesitate a lot between "Weil ich dich liebe" (that would be a beginning of an explanation) and "weil ich dich liebe ..." or "weil ich dich liebe" (that would be an answer to a question).


I think I'd go for "weil ich dich liebe" (without dots, like Kajjo) and maybe put something like hearts or other embellishments behind the last word.


----------



## Schlabberlatz

Laïka Dunkel said:


> "Weil ich dich liebe" (that would be a beginning of an explanation)


It can also be an answer to a question:





elroy said:


> -Warum hast du das gemacht?
> -Weil ich dich liebe.





Laïka Dunkel said:


> Imagine you see a tatoo like this: "a flower, some drawings and the words _weil ich dich liebe"_ would it be correct for you as Germans?


Yes


----------



## Laïka Dunkel

Kajjo said:


> I think dots do not look very good in a tattoo. Maybe the words will do?



Yes, I think I agree with you. Anyway it seems according to the answers I got that the words will do without any punctuation 



Kruemel said:


> I think I'd go for "weil ich dich liebe" (without dots, like Kajjo) and maybe put something like hearts or other embellishments behind the last word.



Well, as I said, there will be the words, a flower and some drawings, but I don't know yet for sure what drawings and how to arrange the whole thing  



Schlabberlatz said:


> It can also be an answer to a question:



Yes, that's right  I didn't think that way, but even with the capital W it could be an answer to a question... Danke!  so I think I might go for this one  



Schlabberlatz said:


> Yes



Thanks


----------

