Ich bewege mich viel, weil ich gesund bleiben will

Question

Can I use here in this sentence "damit" instead of "weil" ?

Answer 1

You can write this:

Ich bewege mich viel, damit ich gesund bleibe.

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Let's compare these sentences:

1. Ich bewege mich viel, weil ich gesund bleiben will.
2. Ich bewege mich viel, damit ich gesund bleibe.

In a higher level both sentences express the same, but in a very basic meaning they are different:

In 1 you start with a wish (that came into your mind in the past): "I want to stay healthy", and this wish causes you to move a lot. So you move now, to fulfill a wish that was there before you started to move.

In 2 you have a goal for the future: "I want to stay healthy", and you move a lot to reach this future/prospective goal.

My English is not the best, but I think you can translate those sentences this way into english:

1. I move a lot because I want to stay healthy.
2. I move a lot so I can stay healthy.

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I think, you had this in your mind:

3. Ich bewege mich viel, damit ich gesund bleiben will.

But this is wrong. When you say this, you in fact say something like this:

3. I move a lot so I wish to stay healthy.

Answer 2

Grammatically this sentence would be correct however the sentence would not make sense in most situations.

In both cases (weil and damit) the sub-ordinate sentence describes the reason why something described in the main sentence is done.

However there is the following difference:

Using weil the "activity" in the main sentence is the consequence of the "activity" in the sub-ordinate sentence.

Using damit it is the other way round: The "activity" in the sub-ordinate sentence is the consequence of the "activity" in the main sentence.

Let's look at the following two sentences (which differ only on one word):

Ich fahre langsam, weil das andere Auto mich überholt.

I drive slowly because the other car (already) passes.

Ich fahre langsam, damit das andere Auto mich überholt.

I drive slowly because the other car shall pass.

A combination of "damit" and "wollen" is however possible:

Die Eltern versprechen ihrem Sohn etwas, damit er auf die Reise mitgehen will.

The parents promise something because they want that their son wants to take part in the journey.