Different ways to ask "Why?" in Japanese
During an eTutoring session, one of you asked me about different words meaning “why” and how they are used differently. That’s a great question and I want to share it with everyone!
The following three words all mean “why”:
どうして dooshite
なんで nande
なぜ naze
どうして dooshite is neutral. You can use this at any time with anyone.
なんで nande is used in casual settings. You can definitely use it with your close friends, but you want to avoid using it when you want to be polite.
なぜ naze is used in formal writing. It’s rarely used in speech.
I hope the differences are clear!
Extra information below if you want to take it further
There are also some phrases which mean something like “what for”:
どんなわけで donna wake de
どんな理由で donna riyuu de
どういうわけで dooiu wake de
どういう理由で dooiu riyuu de
なんのために nan no tame ni
This one literally means “what for”.
If you use one of these phrases instead of どうして/なんで/なぜ, it sounds like you’re very curious to know the reasons.
The following three words all mean “why”:
どうして dooshite
なんで nande
なぜ naze
どうして dooshite is neutral. You can use this at any time with anyone.
なんで nande is used in casual settings. You can definitely use it with your close friends, but you want to avoid using it when you want to be polite.
なぜ naze is used in formal writing. It’s rarely used in speech.
I hope the differences are clear!
Extra information below if you want to take it further
There are also some phrases which mean something like “what for”:
どんなわけで donna wake de
どんな理由で donna riyuu de
どういうわけで dooiu wake de
どういう理由で dooiu riyuu de
The above four phrases all literally mean “with what kind of reasons”.
なんのために nan no tame ni
This one literally means “what for”.
If you use one of these phrases instead of どうして/なんで/なぜ, it sounds like you’re very curious to know the reasons.