How to say 'Why' in Japanese | 何で

Wondering how to say 'Why' in Japanese? You're in the right place!

The Japanese word for Why is 'Nande', written as 何で in Japanese.'Why' in hiragana is なんで.

word

何で

Meaning

Why

Reading

なんで

nande

Kanji

何What

Explanation

The Japanese adverb '何で (なんで)' means 'why'. It is commonly used in casual conversation to ask for the reason or cause behind something. This word is less formal than 'なぜ' or 'どうして', which also mean 'why'. For example: Why did you come?「何で来たの？」(なできたの？). Why are you crying?「何で泣いてるの？」(なでないてるの？). Note that '何で' can also be read as 'なにで' in certain contexts, where it means 'by what means' or 'with what', but this is a separate usage and not the focus here.

Part Of Speech

adverb

Kanji JLPT

Kanji Grade

Frequency

5087

Composition

kanji-hiragana

Handwriting

Kanji in the Word 何で

This word contains 1 kanji character:

kanji

何

Meaning

What

Hiragana in the Word 何で

This word contains 1 Hiragana character :

hiragana

で

Reading

Words Related to 何で Through the Kanji 何

These 27 Words contain the Kanji 何 as well.

word

何

Meaning

What

word

何時

Meaning

When

word

何処

Meaning

Where

word

何の

Meaning

Which

word

何故

Meaning

Why

word

何れ

Meaning

Which, Eventually

word

何方

Meaning

Where, Which

word

何か

Meaning

Something

word

何度

Meaning

How many times, What degree

word

如何に

Meaning

How

word

如何

Meaning

What, How

word

如何なる

Meaning

Any

word

何事

Meaning

Matter, Incident

word

何しろ

Meaning

Anyway

word

何とか

Meaning

Somehow

word

何より

Meaning

Best

word

何と

Meaning

What, How

word

何となく

Meaning

Somehow

word

何だか

Meaning

Somehow

word

何て

Meaning

How

word

何千

Meaning

Thousands

word

何百

Meaning

Hundreds

word

何十

Meaning

Dozens

word

何者

Meaning

What, Who

word

何時頃

Meaning

When

word

何物

Meaning

Something

word

何遍

Meaning

Times, How many times

Learn the Word 何で

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What does 'Nande' (何で) mean?

'Nande' means 'Why' .

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