When to use "weil" and when to use "obwohl"? [closed]

Question

Zum Wassertrinken müssen die Giraffen ihre Beine weit auseinander stellen, weil/obwohl sie so einen langen Hals haben.

Which one is correct between the sentence, weil or obwohl?

It is somehow logical just because of long neck and long legs. But here in question the reason is long neck

Answer 1

This isn't a question of grammar, but of meaning. The choice is the speaker's.

Ich mag die Blumen, weil sie gelb sind.

I like flowers when they are yellow and these flowers are yellow; it follows that I like them.

Ich mag die Blumen, obwohl sie gelb sind.

I like flowers, but not when they're yellow; these flowers are yellow, yet I like them nonetheless.

An easy way to think about this is that obwohl indicates the violation of some kind of expectation (for instance, expecting not to like yellow flowers).

Given your example, I assume obwohl was intended. If a creature has a very long neck one might expect it to be able to drink from a pond without lowering itself to the ground. However, in the case of the giraffe, that expectation is violated: they do need to get lower to the ground by spreading their legs in order to drink.

Answer 2

The answer is "obwohl". Despite its long neck, a giraffe must still spread its legs to reach the ground, not because of it (even though I found that problem quite confusing).

Answer 3

"Weil" means "because (of)", "obwohl" means "despite (of)/although". So if the giraffe has to spread it's legs despite already having a long neck (implying it's long enough to drink without additional measures) then it would be "obwohl", however if the long neck is the reason for having to spread the legs and they wouldn't have to do it without that, then it makes sense to use "weil".

So the question is about semantics, not grammar. You can say both but they would imply different meanings.