The chapter presents a cross-linguistic study of the subordinating conjunctions parce que in French and omdat in Dutch (both corresponding to English because) at the interface between discourse and grammar. It is argued that causal subordinate conjunctions do not always mark a causal relation at the discourse level, because they do not always link two independent utterances or speech-acts. Such subordinating conjunctions, however, can gain discourse status, when they are used paratactically; as may be witnessed from accompanying discourse behavior such as co-occurring discourse markers, filled pauses, declination reset, etc. Thus, the aim of this study is to gain deeper insight into the discursive consequences of the grammatical options of coordination and subordination.