therefore

English

Etymology

From Middle English therfore, therfor, tharfore, thorfore; synchronically a univerbation of there (pronominal adverb) +‎ for, literally “for that (reason)”. The spelling has been changed due to a reanalysis as there + fore (literally “forward from that; thence”). See also therefor, ultimately the same formation.

Compare Saterland Frisian deerfoar, Dutch daarvoor, German dafür, Danish and Norwegian derfor, Swedish därför.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈðɛəfɔː/
• (General American) enPR: thârʹfôr, IPA^(key): /ˈðɛɚ.fɔɹ/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈðɜːɹˌfɔːɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)fɔː(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: there‧fore

Adverb

therefore (not comparable)

1. (conjunctive) Consequently, by or in consequence of that or this cause; referring to something previously stated.

   Traditional values will always have a place. Therefore, they will never lose relevance.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 14:20:

     I have married a wife, and therefore I can not come.

   • 1637, René Descartes, Discourse on the Method:

     Je pense, donc je suis (I think, therefore I am)

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,  […] , and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.

   • 2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 171:

     Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work.

   • 1753, The Spectator, number 642:

     He blushes; therefore he is innocent.

2. (conjunctive, archaic) for that; for it (in reference to a previous statement)
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 19:27:

     Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

Synonyms

• (for that purpose): so, thus, to that end, to this end
• (consequently): hence, then, thus, accordingly, as a result, thereby, eo ipso, ∴ (math); See also Thesaurus:therefore

Derived terms

• I think therefore I am

Translations

consequently; by consequence — see also consequently

• Arabic: إِذَنْ (ar) (ʔiḏan), لِذٰلِكَ (liḏālika)

  Moroccan Arabic: داكشي علاش (dākšī ʕlāš)

  South Levantine Arabic: عشان هيك (ʕašān hēk)

• Armenian: հետևաբար (hy) (hetewabar), ուստի (hy) (usti)
• Azerbaijani: ona görə də, buna görə də, beləliklə
• Bashkir: шуға күрә (şuğa kürə), шуның өсөн (şunıñ ösön)
• Bulgarian: следователно (bg) (sledovatelno)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 所以 (zh) (suǒyǐ), 因此 (zh) (yīncǐ)

• Czech: proto (cs), tudíž (cs)
• Danish: derfor (da)
• Dutch: daarom (nl), bijgevolg (nl) (formal), daardoor (nl) (beginning of sentence), waardoor (nl) (not in beginning of sentence)
• Esperanto: do (eo)
• Finnish: joten (fi), siten (fi)
• French: par conséquent (fr), en conséquence (fr), donc (fr)
• Georgian: შესაბამისად (šesabamisad)
• German: deswegen (de), deshalb (de), darum (de)
• Greek: επομένως (el) (epoménos), οπότε (el) (opóte), άρα (el) (ára)

  Ancient: διό (dió)

• Hungarian: következésképpen (hu), tehát (hu)
• Icelandic: þess vegna (is), þar af leiðir, þar af leiðandi
• Italian: dunque (it)
• Japanese: 従って (ja) (したがって, shitagatte)
• Kazakh: сондықтан (sondyqtan)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: igitur
• Malay: jadi (ms)
• Malayalam: അതുകൊണ്ട് (atukoṇṭŭ)
• Maltese: għaldaqstant
• Maori: nā reira (refers to past events), mā reira (for future events)
• Marathi: त्याअर्थी (tyāarthī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: følgelig, således

  Nynorsk: soleis

• Pashto: نو (ps) (no)
• Polish: więc (pl)
• Portuguese: portanto (pt), consequentemente (pt)
• Romanian: deci (ro), așadar (ro), prin urmare
• Russian: сле́довательно (ru) (slédovatelʹno), (somewhat) зато́ (ru) (zató)
• Sanskrit: तस्मात् (sa) (tasmāt)
• Slovak: teda, takže
• Spanish: por eso (es), por consiguiente (es), por lo tanto (es), por ende (es)
• Swedish: därför (sv)
• Tagalog: ergo, kaya (tl)
• Thai: จึง (th) (jʉng)
• Turkish: bu yüzden, bundan dolayı, o yüzden
• Ukrainian: о́тже (ótže)
• West Frisian: dêrom
• Yiddish: דערפֿאַר (derfar)

for that or this reason

• Arabic: لِذٰلِكَ (liḏālika), لِهٰذَا (lihāḏā)

  South Levantine Arabic: عشان هيك (ʕašān hēk)

• Armenian: ուրեմն (hy) (uremn), ուստի (hy) (usti)
• Asturian: poro, por eso
• Azerbaijani: ona görə, buna görə
• Bashkir: шуға күрә (şuğa kürə), шуның өсөн (şunıñ ösön)
• Belarusian: таму́ (tamú)
• Bulgarian: затова́ (bg) (zatová)
• Burmese: ထို့ကြောင့် (my) (htui.kraung.)
• Catalan: per tant (ca), per això
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 所以 (zh) (suǒyǐ), 因此 (zh) (yīncǐ)

• Czech: proto (cs)
• Dalmatian: duanc
• Danish: derfor (da)
• Dutch: daarom (nl), daarvoor (nl)
• Esperanto: tial (eo), tial ĉi, ĉi tial
• Estonian: sellepärast (et), seetõttu (et)
• Finnish: siksi (fi), sen vuoksi, sen takia, joten (fi)
• French: donc (fr), pour ça, en conséquence (fr)
• Georgian: მაშასადამე (mašasadame)
• German: also (de) (folglich), daher (de), (archaic, literary) sonach (de), darum (de), (literary) demnach (de), demzufolge (de), deshalb (de), deswegen (de), mithin (de), somit (de)
• Greek: επομένως (el) (epoménos)

  Ancient: οὖν (oûn), τοίνυν (toínun)

• Guaraní: upévare
• Hebrew: אָז (he) (az), עַל כֵּן (he), לְפִיכָךְ, לָכֵן (he) (lachen)
• Hindi: इसलिए (islie), इसलिये (isliye)
• Hungarian: azért (hu), ezért (hu), emiatt (hu)
• Irish: dá bhrí sin
• Italian: quindi (it), dunque (it), perciò (it), pertanto (it)
• Japanese: それ故に (それゆえに, soreyue ni), 故に (ja) (ゆえに, yue ni), ですから (desu kara), 従って (ja) (したがって, shitagatte)
• Kazakh: сондықтан (sondyqtan), сол үшін (sol üşın)
• Khmer: អញ្ចឹង (ʼɑñcəng)
• Korean: 따라서 (ko) (ttaraseo), 그래서 (ko) (geuraeseo), 그러므로 (ko) (geureomeuro)
• Lao: ດັ່ງນັ້ນ (dang nan), ແລ້ວຈືງ (lǣu chư̄ng)
• Latin: ergō (la), igitur, itaque (la), autem (la), propterea
• Macedonian: затоа (zatoa)
• Malay: jadi (ms)
• Maori: nā reira (refers to past events), mā reira (for future events)
• Navajo: háálá, éí biniinaa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: derfor (no)

  Nynorsk: difor, derfor

• Ojibwe: nindawaa
• Pashto: ځکه (źëka)
• Persian: بدلیل آن (be-dalil-e ân)
• Polish: więc (pl), zatem (pl), dlatego (pl), przeto (pl), tak że, toteż (pl)
• Portuguese: portanto (pt), assim sendo, por isto, logo (pt), por isso (pt)
• Romanian: deci (ro), așadar (ro), prin urmare
• Romansch: perquai
• Russian: поэ́тому (ru) (poétomu), потому́ (ru) (potomú), посему́ (ru) (posemú) (dated or poetic)
• Sanskrit: यथा (sa) (yathā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дакле, стога, зато

  Roman: dakle (sh), stoga (sh), zato (sh)

• Slovak: preto
• Slovene: zato
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: togodla

• Spanish: por eso (es), por consiguiente (es), por lo tanto (es), por ende (es)
• Swedish: därför (sv)
• Tagalog: ergo
• Telugu: అందుకే (andukē), కాబట్టి (te) (kābaṭṭi), అందుచేత (te) (anducēta), కనుక (te) (kanuka)
• Thai: ดังนั้น (th) (dang-nán), แล้วจึง (lɛ́ɛo-jʉng)
• Turkish: (obsolete) binaenaleyh (tr), bu nedenle, bu sebeple, bu yüzden, o yüzden, bundan dolayı, dolayısıyla (tr)
• Ukrainian: тому́ (tomú), зати́м (zatým)
• Urdu: اس لئے (is li'e)
• Vietnamese: bởi vậy, cho nên (朱𢧚), vì thế (vi) (為勢)
• West Frisian: dêrom
• Yiddish: דערפֿאַר (derfar)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Crimean Tatar: ^{(please verify)} ayse
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ამიტომ (amiṭom)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} do (io)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dunque (it), ^{(please verify)} quindi (it), ^{(please verify)} per questo
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 그러므로 (ko) (geureomeuro)
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} þæs, ^{(please verify)} þȳ
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} kwa hiyo
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} klu (vo)

See also

Here-, there-, and where- words

• (about): hereabout, thereabout, whereabout
• (abouts): hereabouts, thereabouts, whereabouts
• (after): hereafter, thereafter, whereafter
• (again): thereagain
• (against): hereagainst, thereagainst, whereagainst
• (among): hereamong, thereamong, whereamong
• (amongst): thereamongst, whereamongst
• (around): therearound, wherearound
• (as): thereas, whereas
• (at): hereat, thereat, whereat
• (before): herebefore, therebefore
• (beside): therebeside
• (between): therebetween, wherebetween
• (by): hereby, thereby, whereby
• (for): herefor, therefor, wherefor
• (fore): herefore, therefore, wherefore
• (from): herefrom, therefrom, wherefrom
• (hence): herehence, therehence
• (in): herein, therein, wherein
• (in after): hereinafter, thereinafter, whereinafter
• (in before): hereinbefore, thereinbefore, whereinbefore
• (into): hereinto, thereinto, whereinto
• (of): hereof, thereof, whereof
• (on): hereon, thereon, whereon
• (out): hereout, thereout, whereout
• (to): hereto, thereto, whereto
• (tofore): heretofore, theretofore, wheretofore
• (under): hereunder, thereunder, whereunder
• (unto): hereunto, thereunto, whereunto
• (upon): hereupon, thereupon, whereupon
• (with): herewith, therewith, wherewith
• (withal): herewithal, therewithal, wherewithal