"Why?"
Translation:Varför då?
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I remember when studying Shakespeare, my teacher explained "Wherefore art thou Juliet?" meant "WHY are you Juliet?" back then, not "Where are you..." as we might now assume. He's asking why she is so irresistible (he knows where she is). So, Romeo helps me remember this one.
I thought it was "wherefore art thou Romeo?" and that she was asking why he had to be a Montague and therefore forbidden to be with him.
Yes I remember reading that it should have been "Wherefore art thou Montague" as "refuse thy name" makes more sense if associated with the surname and not Romeo.
It's actually "wherefore," which is no longer common in contemporary English, but that is a good way to remember it.
Apparently it's a conversational softener; if you reply with a straight varför it can sound brusque.
I think of it like adding "... that?" to one-word questions in English. For example, if someone told you "I wouldn't do that," a straight "Why?" might sound impatient or pushy or annoyed, while "why's that?" sounds more neutral and curious.
In Swedish, varför is the standard word and hvi is an archaic word. In English, it’s reversed, where why is the standard word, and wherefore is the archaic one.
"Varför då?" (Why's that?) is a formal version of: "Varför" (Why). It's used as a sentence but not as a word. If you use just varför as a sentence you sound young (teens and children) or passive-aggressive.
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It's just more idiomatic. Mrdavincikoden wrote a good answer in this thread. ^
