varför
Swedish
Etymology
A compound of var (“what”) + för, from Old Swedish hvar fore. Compare Norwegian and Danish hvorfor, English wherefore, Dutch waarvoor, German wofür.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /¹varfœr/, [¹varːfœ̞r], (also) /¹vɑːrfœr/, [¹vɑːrfœ̞r]
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: var‧för
Adverb
varför (not comparable)
- why (for what reason)
- Varför är du här?
- Why are you here?
- De frågade mig varför jag inte var i skolan.
- They asked why I was not in school.
Synonyms
Conjunction
varför
- why, and therefore, for what reason
- Jag vann en miljon, varför jag sedan köpte ett nytt hus.
- I won one million, why I later on bought a house.
References
- “Hur stavade man förr?”, in isof.se (in Swedish), Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, 2013 March 19, retrieved 17 September 2020
Further reading
- varför in Svensk ordbok.
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