Breakdown of Wegen der Krise ist der Handel schwierig.
sein
to be
schwierig
difficult
wegen
because of
die Krise
the crisis
der Handel
the trade
Questions & Answers about Wegen der Krise ist der Handel schwierig.
Why is the article der used before Krise if the noun is feminine (die Krise)?
The preposition wegen (because of) requires the genitive case. For feminine nouns like Krise, the definite article die changes to der in the genitive.
Since the feminine dative and genitive articles are both der, how do I know which one this is?
In standard German, wegen strictly takes the genitive case, so this is grammatically genitive. However, in casual spoken German, many native speakers use the dative with wegen. Because the feminine article der is the same for both cases, you actually cannot tell the difference here just by looking at it!
Why is the verb ist placed before the subject der Handel?
This is because of the verb-second (V2) rule in German. The prepositional phrase Wegen der Krise takes up the entire first position in the sentence. The verb ist must come second, which pushes the subject (der Handel) into the third position.
Could I use weil instead of wegen in this sentence?
No, because wegen is a preposition used with a noun phrase, just like "because of" in English. Weil means "because" and is a conjunction that requires a full clause with its own subject and a conjugated verb at the end, such as: Weil es eine Krise gibt, ist der Handel schwierig.
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