ゆえに
- 1Because of / owing to; attaches to a clause or noun to state the reason for a result.Ex. 1
- 2Used at the start of a sentence as a conjunction meaning 'therefore, hence', drawing a conclusion.Ex. 3
Verb (plain form)The plain (non-ます) forms of a verb: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
行く・行かない・行った・行かなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 行く.
i-adj. (plain form)The plain (non-です) forms of an i-adjective: affirmative or negative, non-past or past.
高い・高くない・高かった・高くなかった
The dictionary form is only one of these: 高い. The polite version adds です to the plain form.
na-adj. stemA na-adjective without な, i.e. the form listed in a dictionary.
静か・きれい・好き
Add な before a noun (静かな部屋); as a predicate, follow it with だ／です (静かだ).
Conjunction use: ゆえに alone at the start of a sentence
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A stiff, written expression found in legal texts, academic writing, formal reports and literary prose. It presents a cause from which the result follows as a natural or logical consequence. It is noticeably more literary than ために and far more formal than everyday ので or から.
Do not use ゆえに in casual conversation; ので or から sound natural there.
Note that sentence-initial ゆえに means 'therefore' and introduces a conclusion, as in logical proofs.
Do not attach ゆえに to だ; use な or である after な-adjectives and nouns instead.
- 1.につきN2When 「につき」 expresses a cause, it attaches only to nouns and appears mainly in notices and announcements (e.g., 「工事中につき」); it also has 'per...' and 'regarding...' meanings. 「ゆえに」 can attach to verbs and adjectives, can stand alone at the start of a sentence, and leans toward argumentative reasoning, so the two are generally not interchangeable.
- 2.こととてN1「こととて」 also expresses a cause, but usually for excusable reasons such as youth or unfamiliarity, and the following clause is often an apology or request for understanding; it is not used for plain objective cause-and-effect statements and has no conjunction use at the start of a sentence meaning 'therefore.'
- 3.ためにN4Besides expressing a cause, 「ために」 can express purpose ('in order to'), a meaning 「ゆえに」 lacks. For causes the two are similar, but 「ために」 is neutral in register and requires 「の」 after nouns, while 「ゆえに」 is strongly literary and can also serve as a sentence-initial conjunction.
- 4.のでN5「ので」 corresponds only to the cause-expressing use of 「ゆえに」; it is neutral and softer in tone, and in conversation you should use 「ので」 rather than 「ゆえに」. With nouns and な-adjectives you must say 「なので」—unlike 「ゆえに」, it cannot attach directly to nouns.
- 5.からN5As a cause marker, 「から」 is similar to 「ゆえに」 but neutral and common in conversation, and the following clause can contain requests or expressions of volition; 「ゆえに」 is formal and literary and should not replace 「から」 in speech. 「から」 also marks a starting point, a meaning 「ゆえに」 lacks.
- 6.ことからN2「ことから」 focuses on drawing a judgment based on facts or explaining the origin of a name, with an objective tone that is less archaic and stiff than 「ゆえに」. It requires 「である」 after nouns and, unlike 「ゆえに」, cannot stand alone at the start of a sentence as a conjunction.
ゆえに is a literary cause marker for logical consequences. につき is used mainly with nouns in notices and announcements; こととて is an archaic form typical of apologies and excuses; ために is a more neutral formal cause marker that can also express purpose. ので and から are the everyday conversational choices, and ことから infers a conclusion from observed facts ('judging from the fact that').
