English

rank|during|several|either|338|whether|city|held|help

Etymology
Old English hwæþer

Pronunciation
AHD|w�'<i>th</i>�(r), IPA|/�w�ð�(r)/, SAMPA|/"wED@(r)/
AHD|hw�'<i>th</i>�(r), IPA|/���ð�(r)/, SAMPA|/"WED@(r)/
audio|en-us-whether.ogg|Audio (US)
Rhymes: Rhymes:English:-�ð�(r)|-�ð�(r)
Hyphenation: wheth·er

Homophones
weather (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
wether (in accents with the wine-whine merger)
Category:English homophones

Conjunction
whether

1. Used to introduce an interrogative content clause (indirect question) that consists of multiple alternative possibilities, and indicate uncertainty between them; if.

#: He chose the correct answer, but whether by luck or by skill I don't know.

1. Used to introduce a yes-or-no interrogative content clause (indirect question) that consists of a single possibility, and indicate uncertainty over it; if, whether or not.

#: Do you know whether he's coming?

1. Used to introduce multiple alternative possibilities, and indicate the irrelevance of which is the case; regardless of whether, no matter whether.

#: He's coming, whether you like it or not.

Usage notes
There is some overlap in usage between the first two senses, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways: <dl><dd>Do you know whether he's coming or staying?</dd><dd>Do you know whether he's coming or not?</dd><dd>Do you know whether or not he's coming?</dd></dl> Further, in the first two of these examples, the "or staying" and "or not" may be added as an afterthought (sometimes indicated in writing with a comma before), such that the whether may be uttered in sense 2 and then corrected to sense 1.
Unlike sense 1, sense 3 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility; *"He's coming, whether you like it" is ungrammatical.
In traditional grammar, the clauses headed by whether in senses 1 and 2 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by whether in sense 3 are classified as adverb clauses.

Translations
trans-top|if (in indirect questions)
Czech: zda
Finnish: -ko / -kö (particle appended to the verb)
Hebrew: he-translation|���|ha`ím, he-translation|��|ím
Icelandic: hvort
trans-mid
Norwegian: om, hvorvidt
Novial: ob
Polish: czy
Romanian: dac�
Russian: ли (li)
Swedish: om#Swedish|om, ifall, huruvida
trans-bottom

trans-top|if, either
Czech: zda
Finnish: n/a (different structure is used)
Hebrew: he-translation|���|be`ím, he-translation|��|ím
Icelandic: hvort
trans-mid
Japanese: ...���� (����, ka-d�-ka), ...��� (����, ka-ina-ka), ...��� (����, ya-ina-ya)
Norwegian: enten
Novial: ob
Polish: czy ... czy
Russian: или (íli), или ... или (íli ... íli)
Swedish: om#Swedish|om
trans-bottom

trans-top|whether or not

Czech: ať
trans-mid
Romanian: în orice caz
trans-bottom

checktrans
trans-top|Translations to be checked
ttbc|Arabic: ARchar|س�اء (sawá:�)
ttbc|Bulgarian: дали (dali)
ttbc|Chinese: �� (shìf�u)
ttbc|Dutch: of ... of, of#Dutch|of
ttbc|French: si ... ou, soit
ttbc|German: ob ... oder, ob
ttbc|Indonesian: apakah ... atau tidak
trans-mid
ttbc|Italian: che ... no, se#Italian|se
ttbc|Korean: ...�� ��� (...inji eoddeonji)
ttbc|Portuguese: se ... ou, se#Portuguese|se
ttbc|Romanian: ori...ori, fie...sau
ttbc|Slovak: �i
ttbc|Spanish: si ... o, si#Spanish|si
trans-bottom

Derived terms
whether or not

Category:English subordinators

fa:whether
fr:whether
ko:whether
io:whether
it:whether
hu:whether
pt:whether
fi:whether
te:whether
vi:whether
zh:whether

• 2007-12-26 17:07 - Daniel Polansky - /* Translations */ +Czech

Full Revision History