Learn Dutch: Wegens het feit dat de tractor kapot is, werken we niet. - Due to the fact that the tractor is broken, we are not working.

In Dutch, prepositions like wegens (due to) cannot be followed directly by a dat-clause (a subordinate clause starting with dat). To connect a preposition to a full clause, you need a noun phrase to act as a bridge. That bridge is het feit (the fact), creating the grammatically correct structure wegens het feit dat.

Why does the second half of the sentence say werken we niet instead of we werken niet?

This is a great reminder of the Dutch V2 (verb second) rule. The entire first half of the sentence (Wegens het feit dat de tractor kapot is) acts as one giant block taking up the first position. To keep the main clause's verb in the second position, werken must come immediately after the comma, pushing the subject (we) right after the verb.

Is it common to use wegens het feit dat in everyday speech, or is there a simpler alternative?

While it is important to understand how to build and read these prepositional clauses, wegens het feit dat sounds quite formal and heavy. In everyday conversation, a Dutch speaker would almost always just use omdat (because), saying Omdat de tractor kapot is, werken we niet.

Could I use door instead of wegens in this construction?