怎么 before vs after the subject

[歐博思]

I came across the following placement of 怎么:

***

1》舅舅，今天怎么您洗碗呀？

2》哈哈，因为我洗完洗得比舅妈干净啊。

***

I understand the meaning, but it just seems atypical to what I've accustomed concerning placing 怎么 after the subject. Is this a common placement for 怎么 to mean "how come so and so is doing whatever"?

[skylee]

Sorry I can't explain grammar. But it is common. Here it means why/為甚麼. Are you accustomed to placing 為甚麼 before the subject?

洗完 (X) 洗碗(O)

[歐博思]

Ah typo!

I remember back when I was taking Chinese classes at Tsinghua, and our professor showed us a movie one day. In one line in that movie, the actor said "为什么你。。。something something" with 为什么 before 你. I was actually surprised to see more English-y word order here. My feeling with 怎么 and the 为什么 example stems from it being way too similar to English word order, and that was setting off a red flag in my head I get a similar feeling when I study Spanish, too. Anyways, thanks Skylee.

[最爱狮子和熊]

It's correct .

place 怎么before您（舅舅）----- to emphasize 您 why it is 舅舅 but somebody else

if you place 您before 怎么 ------to emphasize 洗碗 why it is 洗碗 but doing something else like watch TV

[anonymoose]

I think you could also say 今天怎么是您洗碗呀？

[歐博思]

Thanks everyone!

最爱狮子和熊，welcome to the board! Great first post by the way.

[creamyhorror]

I don't quite agree...I think anonymoose's version more clearly emphasises "why it's 舅舅 and not someone else doing the dishes".

1》舅舅，今天怎么您洗碗呀？

今天您怎么洗碗呀？

Why are you washing the dishes today? (I don't find these two sentences to be too different in nuance, personally.)

今天怎么是您洗碗呀？

Why are you the one washing the dishes today? (Why isn't it someone else?)

[femetis]

ahah I like this one...

when 怎么 stands for "why" which is the same as 为什么

the translation "why" may cause confusion

I've got a smart solution for this.

You may use "how come" instead of "why"

"how come it is you who wash...."

"why you wash"

is slightly different actually

Hope solve your prob

For more clarification

Feel free to ask

[renshanrenhai]

I stand with 最爱狮子和熊。 There does exist some different nuance between "今天怎么是您洗碗？"（I am surprised to see you rather than someone else here do washing） and "今天你怎么洗碗？" (I am surprised to see you washing here than doing something else. )

[creamyhorror]

I stand with 最爱狮子和熊。 There does exist some different nuance between "今天怎么是您洗碗？"（I am surprised to see you rather than someone else here do washing） and "今天你怎么洗碗？" (I am surprised to see you washing here than doing something else. )

That's not what he said. He didn't have a 是 in the first sentence.

With a 是, the nuance is clearly different, as I said in my reply.