Missing English word |
It is handy to keep in mind series of words directly corresponding to each
other.
Say, English WH question words have simple direct Russian translations:
English | Russian | transcription |
---|---|---|
what | что | chto |
what...for | зачем | zachem |
when | когда | kogda |
where | где | gde |
which | который, какой | kotoryj, kakoj |
who | кто | kto |
whose | чей | chej |
why | почему | pochemy |
how | как | kak |
If I do not know an answer to a question
and do not like to go into details (say, because they are irrelevant),
I can reply by a single word.
In Russian, you just add a tiny suffix "-то" to the question word:
Question word | Indefinite word |
---|---|
что | что-то |
зачем | зачем-то |
когда | когда-то |
где | где-то |
кто | кто-то |
чей | чей-то |
как | как-то |
почему | почему-то |
Let us try to translate this table.
English question word | Indefinite word |
---|---|
what | somewhat |
what ... for | somewhat ... for |
when | sometime |
where | somewhere |
who | someone, somebody |
whose | someone's |
how | somehow |
why | ??? |
In most cases, the indefinite word is formed by adding the
prefix some to the question word.
Sometimes the question word is replaced by an appropriate
noun:
For example, when is transformed to sometime,
rather than to somewhen.
But what to do with why? I really don't know!
In English there is no word somewhy.
But there is no any other word which could be used instead.
I desperately miss it!
I mean a precise replacement.
"For some reason" is not acceptable,
because "why" may refer not only to a reason, but also to a cause, accident, or whatever.
Really, I would appreciate any solution of this riddle.
Or explanation, why there is no solution.
Somewhy ?