whether

Etymology
From, , from , , from , from , comparative form of. Cognate with 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬

Usage notes

 * Traditional grammar classifies senses 2 and 3 as whether heading a noun clause, but classifies sense 4 as whether heading an adverbial clause.
 * There is some overlap in usage between senses 2 and 3, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways:
 * Do you know whether he’s coming or staying?
 * Do you know whether he’s coming or not?
 * Do you know whether or not he’s coming?
 * 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 3 and then amended to sense 2.

“He’s coming, whether you like it” is ungrammatical. Grammatical versions are “He’s coming, whether you like it or not” or “He’s coming, whether you like it or dislike it”.
 * The or not can be placed after whether or after the verb, although in senses 2 and 3, or not is not required.
 * Sense 4 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility and thus requires or not if no other possibilities are presented. For example,
 * The main verb in adverbial clauses with whether is sometimes in the subjunctive mood, especially if the verb is be:
 * I shall be glad to play any instrument, whether it be a violin or a trumpet.

Translations

 * Arabic: إِذَا مَا, إِذَا
 * Belarusian:
 * Bulgarian:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: (usually not used),
 * Czech: ,
 * Danish:, hvorvidt
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:
 * French:, , ,
 * Galician:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: πότερον, πότερα, εἰ
 * Hebrew: ,
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Icelandic:
 * Indonesian:
 * Italian: ,
 * Japanese: かどうか,
 * Korean: 는지, ᆫ지
 * Lithuanian:
 * Macedonian: дали
 * Malagasy:
 * Malay:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: ,
 * Nynorsk:
 * Occitan: ,
 * Pashto:
 * Persian:
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Scottish Gaelic: (uses question without any preceding conjunction)
 * Serbo-Croatian: da li
 * Slovak: či
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:, si ... o
 * Swedish:, ,
 * Ukrainian:
 * Vietnamese: có ... không
 * Welsh:, ai


 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, ... (whether or not)
 * Czech: ,
 * Danish:, hvorvidt
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: n/a (different structure is used)
 * French:
 * German:
 * Gothic: 𐌾𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹
 * Hebrew: באם,
 * Hungarian: ,
 * Icelandic:
 * Indonesian:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:, かどうか, か否か
 * Korean:, 지 어떤지
 * Latin:
 * Macedonian: дали
 * Malay:
 * Maori: rānei ... rānei
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: ,
 * Nynorsk:, kor vidt
 * Pashto: چې که
 * Polish: czy ... czy
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:, и́ли ... и́ли
 * Scottish Gaelic: (uses question without any preceding conjunction)
 * Slovak: či
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: ,
 * Vietnamese: dù ... hay
 * Welsh:, ai
 * West Frisian: oft
 * Zazaki:


 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech:, ať již
 * Danish: hvad enten
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:, (riippumatta siitä) ...-ko
 * French:
 * German:
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: hvort sem
 * Indonesian:
 * Italian: sia che ... sia che
 * Korean: -든지
 * Macedonian: дали...или не
 * Malay:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Nynorsk: anten
 * Pashto:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian: în orice caz
 * Russian: ,
 * Scottish Gaelic: co-dhiù
 * Slovak: či, či tak či onak
 * Spanish: ya sea
 * Swedish:
 * Ukrainian:, котри́й з
 * Welsh: pa un a, pa un ai


 * Indonesian:
 * Italian: ,
 * Romanian: ,
 * Slovak:

Determiner

 * 1)  Which of two.

Pronoun

 * 1)  Which of two.