どうして is translated as why? but... it has して which, is the continuous form. I'm guessing it's continuous to allow the other person to continue the sentence. But, then it has どう.. which I translate to in what way..... And then I can't understand it. So I translate it like どうする, in what way done? Is it like... what happened for you to do this? I don't understand it well.
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1You are incorrect to think "どう” is a noun with "して" being the conjugated form of "する" making "どう" a サ辺名詞 (する verb) because it is not. In this context, どう is 副詞 (adverb) and して is... I don't know. But, it's common to say "どうですか" (How is it?)– davewpCommented Mar 14, 2022 at 23:33
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1so no answer right– Star PeepCommented Mar 15, 2022 at 0:16
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1I'm not a native speaker, so I don't give answers. And, in the dictionary I'm looking at, "どう" is not listed as a サ変名詞 so your instinct was correct. "どう" is listed as an adverb (副詞). That's all I'm willing to say.– davewpCommented Mar 15, 2022 at 1:58
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1Have you learned that the same て-form can express reasons, cause, means, etc?– aguijonazoCommented Mar 15, 2022 at 14:04
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nope, i have never learned that lol... but i still dont see how but ok– Star PeepCommented Mar 15, 2022 at 22:39
1 Answer
The so-called “continuous” form, or て-form, of a verb doesn’t by itself mean something is continuing. It is just one of its many functions.
今仕事をしています。
I am working now.
It can also express reason or cause.
仕事があって、パーティーに行けませんでした。
I couldn’t go to the party because I had work to do.
Someone who didn’t know that might ask you a question like this.
どうしてパーティーに行かなかったんですか。
Why didn’t you go to the party?
I wouldn’t recommend splitting どうして into どう and して because どうして can also be used by itself or followed only by ですか, something that would sound odd with a normal て-form. However, it would not be totally wrong to say that a verbal phrase consisting of the question word どう and the generic verb する is put into the same て-form where the speaker expects the response to explain the reason. If we had to translate this question in a similar way to the statement above, it would be something like this.
lit. You didn’t come to the party because what happened?
どうして in this sentence can be understood as asking how things unfolded for the person in question. There might be some parallelism to the English expression “how come” (or not). In other contexts, どうする can mean, more literally, how to deal with something.
Q: どうすればいいですか。
What should I do?
(lit. If I do it how, it will be good?)A: 仕事をやめればいいです。
You should quit your job.
Here, too, どうする is put in the same form as the part of the response that answers it, namely the conditional form.
By the way, the て-form can also express means.
電車に乗ってパーティーに行きました。
I went to the party by (taking the) train.
While it may not be incorrect to ask a means with どうして, it is usually avoided and どうやって is used, instead.
どうやってパーティーに行ったんですか。
How did you go to the party?
If the reason or means is expressed with a noun, it is marked with で. This is like the noun version of the て-form.
仕事でパーティーに行けませんでした。
I couldn’t go to the party because of work.
電車でパーティーに行きました。
I went to the party by train.
A genuine problem arises here because なんで can be used to ask both a reason and a means, although the latter is usually written as 何で and is not usually used in a negative question.
なんでパーティーに行ったんですか。
Why did you go to the party?
How (by what means) did you go to the party?
One way to avoid this confusion is to read 何で as なにで when it is meant for a means.