Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "why" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

почему

Meaning: why

Pronunciation: [pah-chee-MOO]

Part of speech: adverb

Rank: #120 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Почему́ ты спра́шиваешь меня́ об э́том?
Why are you asking me about this?
Почему́ ты изуча́ешь ру́сский язы́к?
Why are you studying Russian?
Я не зна́ю, почему́ он не пришёл сего́дня в шко́лу.
I don't know why he did not come to school today.
Профе́ссор спроси́л студе́нта, почему́ он не был на экза́мене.
The professor asked the student why he wasn't present at the exam.
literal The professor asked the student why he was not at the exam.
Почему́ ты опозда́л на встре́чу?
Why were you late to the meeting?
Ми́ша объясни́л почему́ он реши́л приня́ть уча́стие в соревнова́ниях.
Misha explained why he decided to participate in the competition.
А ты зна́ешь, почему́ ло́шади спят сто́я?
Do you happen know why horses sleep standing up?
Кто́-нибудь зна́ет, почему́ интерне́т в на́шем о́фисе сего́дня не рабо́тает?
Does anybody know why the Internet is not working in our office today?
Я не зна́ю, почему́ она́ не отвеча́ет на мои́ звонки.
I don't know why she is not answering my calls.
Почему́ в Росси́и таки́е холо́дные зимы?
Why are the winters so cold in Russia?

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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