зачем

Russian

Etymology

Univerbation of the phrase за чем, from the preposition за + чем, instrumental singular of что (što, “what”). This was originally marked as from the Saint Petersburg dialect, Moscow had as late as the 18th century зачто́ (začtó).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [zɐˈt͡ɕem]
  • Audio(file)

Adverb

заче́м • (začém)

  1. (interrogative adverb) why? (with what object/for what purpose) The reply begins with ‘чтобы’ or ‘затем, чтобы’.

Usage notes

Зачем differs from почему in that the latter simply means, "Why?" while зачем means, "What for?" Sometimes the words are interchangeable, but sometimes one is more appropriate than the other.

See also

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