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I often want to express a sentiment like:

It was so nice to be outside this summer, especially because the winter was so cold!

Literally translated, especially because would be insbesondere weil … I’m not sure if this is just wrong, or if it sounds like German obviously translated from English. What would be a better to express this idea in more natural German?

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  • Diesen Sommer war es so schön draußen zu sein, gerade wegen des kalten Winders.
    – jawo
    Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 11:11
  • Es war draußen so schön diesen Sommer, besonders da der Winter so kalt war.
    – dakab
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 20:00
  • 1
    Funny, I always get the feeling I’m using a Germanism when I write especially because.
    – Crissov
    Commented Jul 7, 2016 at 9:09

5 Answers 5

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25
  • besonders weil
  • insbesondere weil
  • gerade weil
  • vor allem weil

sind alles mögliche Alternativen, die im Deutschen gang und gäbe sind.

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  • 1
    Das klingt nicht seltsam?: "Es war diesen Sommer so schön draußen zu sein, insbesondere weil der Winter so kalt war."
    – Phil Braun
    Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 23:59
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    Oder 'insbesondere da der Winter...' oder wie Wrztprmft schreibt, 'gerade nach ...'.
    – user unknown
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 0:14
  • @Phil Braun you can further shorten your sentence in german we would say it like: "Es war diesen Sommer so schön draußen, besonders weil es im Winter so kalt war".
    – Tom Wellbrock
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 9:54
  • insbesondere klingt schon ein wenig gestelzt wenn man vom Wetter spricht.
    – Wolf
    Commented Oct 9, 2015 at 14:03
17

A somewhat more free translation would involve not using a subclause:

[…], gerade nach dem kalten Winter.

[…], insbesondere angesichts des kalten Winters. [rather formal]

[…], erst recht nach dem kalten Winter. [rather colloquial]

In my opinion, these variants are more idiomatic.

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6

As others already pointed out, your translation is perfectly fine. However, one suggestion has not yet been made. IMHO, one of the best ways (stylistically) to translate your example sentence would be by using zumal:

Es war (so) schön …, zumal der Winter sehr kalt war.

Yet, using zumal should perhaps not be your first choice in a colloquial conversation. It may be considered to be a bit old-fashioned.

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  • 1
    zumal ist in bestimmten Wendungen absolut gebräuchlich, klar nicht in allen, in dieser aber schon.
    – Wolf
    Commented Oct 9, 2015 at 13:58
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You could switch the order of the sentence:

Gerade aufgrund des Winters Kälte war es schön, im Sommer draußen zu sein.

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  • 2
    Almost sounds like poetry.
    – hiergiltdiestfu
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 12:36
  • 1
    @hiergiltdiestfu Besser wäre hier wohl Nach des Winters Kälte
    – Wolf
    Commented Oct 9, 2015 at 13:57
  • What about Gerade nach dem kalten Winter war es schön, im Sommer draußen zu sein. which is much simpler (to understand)?
    – Wolf
    Commented Oct 9, 2015 at 14:02
-1

"Vor allem weil..." fits perfect in this case. It's not formal. It is rather the usual phrase to emphasize something. "Insbesondere" is too formal to be used in everyday language.

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  • 1
    Welcome to German Language SE. Can you please expand your answer in a way that it adds something to User Unknown’s answer?
    – Wrzlprmft ♦
    Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 20:26
  • This is either a comment to user unknown’s answer who already noted these expressions or a duplicate of his answer. As such, it should be deleted/converted.
    – Jan
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 10:12
  • Just go ahead... Knock yourself out.
    – JFS
    Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 18:11

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