kvôli

Kvôli is a Slovak preposition used to express cause, motive or purpose, corresponding to English "because of" or "for the sake of". It commonly introduces a noun phrase that names the reason or object of an action, as in Kvôli počasiu sme zostali doma ("Because of the weather we stayed home") or Kvôli tebe som prišiel ("I came for you / because of you"). The preposition typically governs the dative case in contemporary Slovak (kvôli nemu, kvôli nej), though usage and case marking can vary historically and between related Slavic languages; Czech has an equivalent form kvůli.

Kvôli is neutral in register and widely used in both spoken and written Slovak. It contrasts with conjunctions like pretože, which introduce full clauses (e.g., Pretože pršalo, zostali sme doma), while kvôli normally attaches to a noun or pronoun. It can also convey purposive nuance ("for the sake of") depending on context: Kvôli deťom sa snažia zmeniť rutinu ("For the sake of the children they try to change the routine").

Orthographically, the Slovak form is written with the diacritic ô; related forms exist in other Slavic languages with different vowel notation. In grammar descriptions, kvôli is classified as a preposition forming prepositional phrases that function adverbially or adjectivally to mark reason or purpose.