7

A: Why are going to Edgar's ?

B: Just because...

My translation:

A: Wieso gehst du zu Edgar?

B: Nur weil...

2
  • 1
    Is the ellipsis replacing something that the speaker actually said or does it indicated that the speaker himself has not finished his sentence?
    – Wrzlprmft
    Jan 1, 2014 at 12:49
  • 2
    In colloquial context you can also just say "Weil!"... this however implies that you do not WANT to give the reason, while the alternatives given in the answers also work if you don't have a real reason.
    – Emanuel
    Jan 1, 2014 at 23:07

3 Answers 3

6

Yes, you can answer this questions like this:

Nur weil unsere Frauen befreundet sind.

Nur weil is possible and common in the spoken language. allein aufgrund works too and is IMHO more common in written German:

Allein aufgrund des guten Essens.

Happy New Year!

3
  • Can 'allein aufgrund' stand alone? - like you dont wanna tell him why you're going Jan 1, 2014 at 11:25
  • 1
    @DerPolyglott33 No, it needs an argument.
    – lejonet
    Jan 1, 2014 at 11:32
  • 1
    @DerPolyglott33 As c.p. said in his answer, if you don't want to give the argument, you can use 'einfach so' Jan 1, 2014 at 23:00
17

If the answer is "Just because.", without any explanation, you could say (as c.p. wrote):

Einfach so.

This one might imply that there is no specific reason/motiviation (or that you don’t want to tell it):

Nur so.

A little bit cheeky, and often used if someone is asking too much, or if you see no reason why you should answer the question:

Darum.

If you can’t (because you don’t exactly know or you are not allowed to) or don’t want to explain, you could say (it’s probably a bit funny):

Aus Gründen. [because reasons]

3
  • 2
    Yes, we've all had the sarcastic "Warum? Darum!" arguments. ;-)
    – Kevin
    Jan 2, 2014 at 6:28
  • 1
    Und das ultimative Argument: "Isso!".
    – dog
    Jan 3, 2014 at 6:55
  • 1
    You could add 'weil halt'. Jan 3, 2014 at 15:49
7

If an explanation is avoided:

A : Wieso gehst du zu Edgar?
B : Einfach so.

1
  • 3
    Yea, if it is to be said alone, without further explanation, that's the right thing to say.
    – PMF
    Jan 1, 2014 at 13:01

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