♪How come?ってどんな意味？

「なぜ？」と理由を聞きたいときには”Why?”以外に”How come?”という表現も使えます。何か違いがあるのでしょうか？

リスニングレッスン

トランスクリプト

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

Some people use “how come” to mean “why”. “How come” is another way to say “why”. In other words, when you want to know the reason for something, instead of saying “why”, you can use “how come”.

Are there any differences? In terms of meaning they mean the same thing. It’s just that “how come” is more informal. So, if you’re writing, you may want to use “why”. But if you’re speaking, you can use both.

That said you want to be careful when you make a sentence.

Let’s compare two questions, one using “why” and the other “how come”. Why are you here? How come you are here? Why didn’t you tell me? How come you didn’t tell me? As you can see, how come is followed directly by a subject and a verb in that order.

Now. Would you like to try a quiz? You’ll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is NOT true. Ready?

1. How come is another way to say “why”.
2. How come is more formal than “why”.
3. How come is followed by a subject and then a verb.

答えはこちら2

日本語訳

こんにちは。いつもエイゴの時間を聴いてくれてありがとうございます。

WHYの代わりにHOW COMEを使うことがあります。HOW COMEはWHYの言い換えなのです。つまり、何かの理由を知りたいとき、WHYと訊ねる代わりに、HOW COMEを使って訊ねることもできるのです。

違いはありますか？ 意味的には同じです。ただ、HOW COMEはWHYよりもくだけた表現です。なので、文章ではWHYを使ったほうがよいですね。会話では、どちらも使います。

とはいえ、センテンスをつくるときにはちょっと注意が必要かもしれません。

WHYとHOW COMEの疑問文を比べてみましょう。たとえば、Why are you here? と How come you are here? 意味は同じですが、疑問詞移以降の語順が違います。Why didn’t you tell me? と How come you didn’t tell me? も同様です。HOW COMEを使う場合、後には主語と動詞が「主語＋動詞」の順番で続きます。