# почему и зачем?



## alibabushka

Доброго времени суток!

Скажите, пожалуйста, в чем по-вашему разница между "почему" и "зачем"? Спасибо!


----------



## gvozd

Почему?=отчего?
Зачем?=для чего?

Почему ты не пришёл? Странно было бы услышать: "Зачем ты не пришёл?"


----------



## alibabushka

Спасибо за ответ!


----------



## Enquiring Mind

Загляни сюда и сюда.


----------



## LilianaB

Yes, it is all true how the words are defined, but I personally think there is no real difference -- how they are actually used in real life.


----------



## er targyn

gvozd said:


> Почему?=отчего?
> Зачем?=для чего?
> 
> Почему ты не пришёл? Странно было бы услышать: "Зачем ты не пришёл?"


Как отличите, с пробелом было сказано или без?


----------



## er targyn

LilianaB said:


> Yes, it is all true how the words are defined, but I personally think there is no real difference -- how they are actually used in real life.


Why? There is a difference.


----------



## LilianaB

Not, really. They are often used interchangeably, although their etymology is different. Sort of like: _Why_ and _what for_. Sometimes one sounds (intuitively) better than the other, but I cannot imagine any grammatical rules that would govern that. The first one may be a question about the reason (in more contexts), whereas the second one about the purpose, but not always.


----------



## er targyn

Often, but not always. Many people make this mistake because they're not Russian natives.


----------



## e2-e4 X

LilianaB said:


> Sometimes one sounds (intuitively) better than the other, but I cannot imagine any grammatical rules that would govern that.


No grammatical rules.
Почему? — вопрос о причине действия.
Зачем? — вопрос о цели действия.

The difference is semantic.


Enquiring Mind said:


> Загляни сюда и сюда.


Загляните. I'm afraid this is obligatory unless you know each other rather well and have agreed to address each other in the singular form (which doesn't happen more often than does — yes, we're cold).


----------



## LilianaB

er targyn said:


> Often, but not always. Many people make this mistake because they're not Russian natives.




No, I did not mean non-Russian natives, or rather people who do not know Russian well. Just listen how they are used in real life -- often interchangeably. I agree that sometimes only one sounds right, but it is more something based on intuition than real rules, I think. You cannot infer the difference from translating the word into some artificial English equivalents. I would never analyze the language of the people who don't know Russian well -- for this purpose.


----------



## e2-e4 X

What you're telling about is just usual for any words with close, but different senses: sometimes one can be used instead of another only with a "secondary" change in meaning. All I have to say is that, while the reason says there's something in common between them, the intuitive knowledge of a native speaker urges me to state that we feel these words are very different.  It's the feeling.


----------



## LilianaB

Could you briefly describe the difference -- just exactly as you experience it, please, because I am not sure what you have in mind (other than what I said that the first one usually indicates the reason, and the second one the purpose). It is obvious that different words are slightly different, even if just from the phonetic point of view. These two are often interchangeable, though, in many contexts.


----------



## e2-e4 X

LilianaB said:


> (other than what I said that the first one usually indicates the reason, and the second one the purpose)


In my view, this is not usually, but always. The other thing is that sometimes the reason (here: «причина») implies the purpose («цель») or the other way around, and so the words can be used as substitutes for one another in certain contexts. I'd say, the difference is generally quite important and felt very well.


----------



## er targyn

Partial semantical overlapping, right?


----------



## alibabushka

Спасибо всем большое. Я еще новичок на форуме, поэтому не догадалась поискать в архиве. Я, так называемый, нейтив-спикер, но когда дело доходит до объяснения моим ученикам таких тонкостей, я теряюсь, не могу вспомнить примеры и тд и тп


----------



## LilianaB

e2-e4 X said:


> In my view, this is not usually, but always. The other thing is that sometimes the reason (here: «причина») implies the purpose («цель») or the other way around, and so the words can be used as substitutes for one another in certain contexts. I'd say, the difference is generally quite important and felt very well.



Thank you. Yes, I agree, I can feel it, I am just not sure if I can think of any rule for that, other than, you just know when to use each of them, and in many cases they are interchangeable.


----------



## nnuemad

Зачем пошел.
За хлебом.
Почему?
Потому что голоден.(хочу есть)
-------------------------


----------



## alibabushka

Спасибо


----------



## er targyn

nnuemad said:


> Зачем пошел.
> За хлебом.
> Почему?
> Потому что голоден.(хочу есть)
> -------------------------


  Не зачем а за чем. Или, по-вашему, нет разницы?


----------



## er targyn

Новость: "Японские эксперты узнали, зачем человек моргает, на самом деле". Опять зачем вместо почему. Это тенденция. ?
Или тут есть разница?


----------



## gvozd

er targyn said:


> Новость: "Японские эксперты узнали, зачем человек моргает, на самом деле". Опять зачем вместо почему. Это тенденция. ?
> Или тут есть разница?



Разница есть. "Зачем" подразумевает, что моргание - небессмысленная функция. "Почему" означало бы, что функция моргания нам в принципе непонятна, мы бы просто пытались выяснить причину. Как-то так.


----------

