Prepositions of reason and time (vanwege, wegens, tijdens)

Use the preposition tijdens (during) to explain when an event or action takes place.

Nobody talks during the concert.
Niemand praat tijdens het concert.

Stating Causes with vanwege

Use vanwege (because of / due to) to explain the reason for a situation.

We were too late because of the crowd.
We waren te laat vanwege de drukte.

Notice that if you start a sentence with a prepositional phrase like vanwege de drukte, the verb and subject invert because the verb must stay in the second position.

Due to the crowd, the road is closed.
Vanwege de drukte is de weg dicht.

Official Announcements with wegens

Wegens also means "due to" or "because of". It is slightly more formal than vanwege and frequently appears in official announcements, signs, or news reports.

The train is not running due to a malfunction.
De trein rijdt niet wegens een storing.
The police are blocking the street due to the incident.
De politie blokkeert de straat wegens het incident.

Unexpected Disruptions

Here is how you can use vanwege, wegens, and tijdens to describe unforeseen (onvoorzien) or temporary (tijdelijk) situations:

During the trip there was an unforeseen delay.
Tijdens de reis was er onvoorzien oponthoud.
The office is temporarily closed due to the chaos.
Het kantoor is tijdelijk dicht vanwege de chaos.
The system is temporarily shut down due to a malfunction.
Het systeem is tijdelijk afgesloten wegens een storing.