Whether

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English

Etymology

Old English hwæþer, from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz, comparative form of *hwaz (“who”). Cognate with German weder (“neither”), Swedish hvar, Icelandic hvorr (“each”).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Whether

  1. (obsolete) Which of two.
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XXVII:
      The debite answered and sayde unto them: whether of the twayne will ye that I lett loosse unto you?

Conjunction

Whether

  1. (obsolete) Introducing a direct interrogative question (often with correlative or) which indicates doubt between alternatives.
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark II:
      whether ys it easyer to saye to the sicke of the palsey, thy synnes ar forgeven the: or to saye, aryse, take uppe thy beed and walke?
    • 1616, William Shakespeare, King John, I.i:
      Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, [...] Or the reputed sonne of Cordelion?
  2. Used to introduce an indirect interrogative question that consists of multiple alternative possibilities (usually with correlative or).
    He chose the correct answer, but whether by luck or by skill I don't know.
  3. Without a correlative, used to introduce a simple indirect question; if, whether or not.
    Do you know whether he's coming?
  4. Used to introduce a disjunctive adverbial clause which qualifies the main clause of the sentence (with correlative or).
    He's coming, whether you like it or not.

Notes

  • 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.
  • Sense 4 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 2 and 3 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by whether in sense 4 are classified as adverb clauses.

Translations

introducing indirect questions)
if, whether or not
introducing adverbial clause
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Translations to be checked

Related terms

Statistics

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