Naze and Doushite...?

[Wolfie]

Can someone tell me the difference between naze and doushite? I know they both mean 'why', but is one more formal then the other? Arg, it's confusing me...

[redfoxer]

i dont think theres much differnce between the two. I think naze is "why?/how?" and doushite is more of a "how comes?/for what reason?". You could also use douyatta "By what means?"

To me there isnt much distinction between the two but i think i would doushite more often when i want to use it alone.

[Danyoru]

Umm...From experience of watching tons of Japanese movies, I'd say that doushite is used when talking directly to someone, eg 'doushiteno?', or 'doushitedesuka?': both mean: what's wrong?', 'what is it?'
Whereas 'naze' literaly means 'why'.

But I'm probably wrong, just my own personal observation...

じゃあ、わたしはしりません...

[Spaztick]

Naze is stronger in meaning, while doushite is softer.

Naze keki o tabetta?!
Why did you eat cake?

Nazenara (stand-alone because) keki o tebette hoshikatta.
Because I wanted to eat cake.

[Wolfie]

Ah, so I guess I would find myself using doushite more often since I'm generely a very soft-spoken person, aside from argueing, so I guess i'd use naze then. ^^

[xdj220]

Just an observation - I almost never hear people use naze. Maybe it's just them being polite, but 'doushite' is almost always used instead. Also 'nande' is used pretty often as a stand-alone way to say why. I think saying 'naze da' as another stand-alone why is one of the more common ways to use it.

[Harisenbon]

More than naze, I hear nande more often, but it's more in an incredulous way. Spaztick is correct when he says that naze is harder, and doushite is more polite. nande is the hardest of the three.

健太郎と一緒にカラオケに行った。

えぇ、なんで？彼はかっこわるい！

[sakura]

hmm, so the 3 main 'whys' are(from strongest to softest) naze, nande, and doushite?

Oh and why do people put a 'no' at the end of some of these words? I usually here 'nande no?' Does the 'no' have to be said even with a question word or is it optional? I seem to get very very confused with this.

Bleh, one more question(sorry), is there a way to use any of the 'whys' without meaning to ask something? For example:

Person 1: Who is this child?
Person 2: Why shes my child, of course.(sorry but Im not sure if that sentence came out right)

[mandolin]

I'm still a beginner, but I think I can address this question. Since japanese and english aren't really comparable on a word-for-word basis, I'd say no, none of the 'why' words are used in that way.

The 'why' from Person 2's dialogue functions only to set a certain emphasis on the sentence, and Japanese has its own words to add emphasis.

Person 2: Watashi no kodomo ga ndesu. <- "ndesu" is the affirmation.
(lit.) My child is.

"Ndesu" is a contraction of 'no desu' which is used for something that is a fact, not an opinion (an opinion would put 'yo' at the end of the sentence). Hontou is also another word to add emphasis.

Person 2: Hontou, watashi no kodomo ga ndesu.

Really (in fact), that is my child.

I'd really like it if someone were to correct me.