"Why" • Chinese-English Dictionary

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 wèi hé why
 hé yǐ (literary) why / how
 zěn de what for / why / how
 zěn shēng how / why
 hé what / how / why / which / carry
 hé why / how / when / what / where
 hé wèi (old) why
 suǒ yǐ therefore / as a result / so / the reason why
 wèi shén me why? / for what reason?
 dào shi contrary to what one might expect / actually / contrariwise / why don't you
 zhī suǒ yǐ (after a noun N and before a predicate P) the reason why N P / Example: 我之所以討厭他|我之所以讨厌他[wo3 zhi1 suo3 yi3 tao3 yan4 ta1] "the reason why I dislike him (is ...)"
 hé bì there is no need / why should
 gàn má what are you doing? / whatever for? / why on earth?
 hé bù why not? / why not do (sth)?
 guài bu de no wonder! / so that's why!
 hé kǔ why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
 yuán hé why? / for what reason?
 suǒ yǐ rán the reason why
 hé xū there is no need / why should
 xī (literary) what? / where? / why?
 hé why not
 gē jī yān yòng niú dāo lit. why use a pole-ax to slaughter a chicken? (idiom) / fig. to waste effort on a trifling matter / also written 殺雞焉用牛刀|杀鸡焉用牛刀[sha1 ji1 yan1 yong4 niu2 dao1]
 nǎ mén zi (coll.) (emphasizing a rhetorical question) what / what kind / why on earth
 gàn má why on earth / whatever for
 zěn me shuō ne Why is that? / How come?
 hé kǔ ne why bother? / is it worth the trouble?
 gù yún that's why it is called...
 wèi shén me variant of 為甚麼|为什么, why? / for what reason?
 píng shén me (spoken) why? / for which reason?
 hé chū cǐ yán where do these words stem from? / why do you (he, etc) say such a thing?
 zhī qí rán ér bù zhī qí suǒ yǐ rán to know that it is so but not why it is so (idiom)
 wèi máo (Internet slang) why?
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