varför

Swedish

Alternative forms

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)

  1. why (for what reason)
    Synonym: hur kommer det sig
    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.

See also

Conjunction

varför

  1. 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

  1. ^ “Hur stavade man förr?”, in isof.se‎[1] (in Swedish), Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore, 19 March 2013, retrieved 17 September 2020
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